A commissioner in the Police Service Commission (PSC), Dame Comfort Obi, representing the southeast and the media on the commission have decried the rate of certificate forgery and age falsification among shortlisted candidates in the nationwide screening for Police Constables.
Obi told The Nation in Umuahia, the Abia State capital that over 40percent of those who applied for the police constable’s job in Abia State would have been cooling off in police cells if they were to strictly follow the guidelines of the recruitment exercise.
“If we are very strict, at least, 40percent of them would have been locked up in the cell by now. Very unfortunate that you will find the youths who are coming to apply for police job are falsifying their age. You will see somebody that was born in 1986 going to swear an affidavit in the court lying on oath that they were born in 1995/1996.
“I think that our people, we really need some enlightenment and reorientation for them to know that what they are doing is perjury. It is a crime and it carries 3years imprisonment. Our children unfortunately don’t know that.
“We have also seen those that have forged results. We have seen a lot of them here since we started that can barely speak good English or write their names correctly even with high credits in English in their results. We have also seen some married women coming to apply for the job.
“What we are doing all through this week is just screening; looking at their certificates, checking their heights and chest. The main exam which will be conducted for the Police Service Commission by JAMB because we want the result to come out immediately will take place on May 24. Then those that have scaled through, the result will be pasted the next day and on June 6, they will start their training.”
She added that out of 1,098 persons shortlisted in Abia, only 119 of 7 candidates across the 17local government areas in the state would be selected to the May, 24 exam which would be conducted by JAMB. This is even as she lamented mobile network and power fluctuation as setbacks to the exercise.