Hundreds of applicants seeking admission into the Nigerian Police Academy, Wudil in Kano state are stranded at the ongoing physical and credentials screening for the ninth regular course intakes.

Affected young applicants who were invited by the police across the 36 states and Federal capital territory, Abuja for the recruitment processes in Kano have faulted what they considered irregularities in the process.

While some of them lamented the outright omission of their names on the certified list after invitation, others worried over alleged lopsidedness among those certified for the next stage of the recruitment.

Especially, applicants wondered why their names were replaced after scoring above the benchmark of 60 points in the Computer Based Test (CBT) with those that scored less, calling for immediate investigation.

The Guardian learnt that over 10,000 applicants shortlisted nationwide for the professional police regimental and degree program were invited for the exercise out of hundreds of thousands that applied for the prestigious academy.

The young Nigerians who had arrived in Wudil, about 35 kilometers away from the city centre, since Monday for the week-long pre-admission exercise, were seen putting up in villages around the academy’s community.

The secondary school leavers invited for the physical screening are expecting to undergo Computer Based Test (CBT) to ascertain their academic resilience. Only those who scaled through the CBT are required to proceed to the next stage.

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” After CBT, applicants who successfully pass and scored above the cut-off mark will be invited to the next stage which is medical where they are certified fit for the task ahead. After that, those certified medically fit move to physical exercise.

” After the physical screening, applicants will be invited for a board interview. That is the last stage of the exercise. This is where admission is determined and at this level applicant will know whether or not the dream to attend police academy will actualize”, an insider told our correspondent.

However, some applicants who alleged high levels of irregularities in the exercise said they could not take part in the screening exercise because they could not find their names on the list of invited applicants.

An applicant who would want his name on print because of victimisation lamented that his name was omitted after travelling all the way from Sokoto state for the screening exercise.

Other complaints who sat for the CBT claimed to have scored above 60 points but realized their names are missing from the list of candidates for the next stage. One of them, whose name was withheld, argued that while scoring 63 points and could not process for medical, he claimed that he knows those that scored below the benchmark who were invited for medical screening.

” The process is not strictly followed because like me now, I scored 63 points and the benchmark is 60, yet I was not invited for medical screening which is the next stage. Incidentally, anyone that failed a particular stage will not move to the next stage which means I have failed.

“However, I have seen from our friends whom we sat for the same CBT and even score below 60 points and they got the invitation to proceed for the next exercise. This is not right at all. It is discouraging and I hope the authority will do something about it”.

Efforts to get a reaction to these complaints were not successful because the Commandant of the Academy, Assistant Inspector General of Police Ahmad Abdurrahman was said not available as at the time of the visit to the academy.

However, an insider who is not officially allowed to interface with journalists disclosed that applicants who have challenges whatsoever have been advised to channel their complaints to the appropriate authority for prompt attention.