By Dele Ogbodo
In what industry watchers and stakeholders say is unprecedented in promotion of fairness, openness and integrity especially across MDAs, the Civil Defence, Correctional, Immigration, and Fire Services Board (CDCFIB) have strongly emphasized the need to stamp out nepotism and favouritism in paramilitary promotion exercises.
The Chairman of the Board who is also the Minister of Interior, Dr. Olubunmi Tunji-Ojo, stated this on Wednesday while addressing personnel at the commencement of the 2025 promotion exercise across all the paramilitary agencies under the Ministry.
The agencies include: The Nigerian Correctional Service, the Federal Fire Service, the Nigeria Immigration Service and the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps.
According to the Minister, this year’s promotion exercise is “busy unusual” with a newly conceived collaboration between the Ministry and the Nigerian Army Resource Centre.
The model, according to the Minister, will cater for personnel seeking promotion from Controller cadre to Assistant Controller General (ACG), and from ACG to Deputy Controller General (DCG).
He noted that the reform was to ensure a more merit-based promotion process where officers will be required to take exams and meet a benchmark score to be eligible for promotion.
“If seniority is the only condition for appointment, there will be no reason to examination. If you ever move into the rank of an ACG or DCG, that is a serious leadership responsibility,” he said.
“As a DCG, you should be competent enough to be a presidential appointee. Going forward, we will be more diligent in our operations at the Board level.
This new development aims to leverage the expertise of the Nigerian Army Resource Centre to promote a more transparent and fair system, given its longstanding expertise in research, education, training, and human capacity development.”
Speaking on the new model, Tunji-Ojo added that there was an urgency to promote a culture of meritocracy in a bid to foster a more motivated and productive workforce.
“If you have spent 30-something years in service, and yet you cannot pass an exam, trust me, you will not be appointed. We want merit because it is criminal for us to expect you to give what you don’t have.
“We are here to do what the president has commissioned us to do, and that is to ensure that the paramilitary agencies are positioned to play critical roles in national security architecture.
“As a government, for us to perform our responsibilities to the best, we must ensure that we must ensure that the best hands occupy positions of responsibility.
On the need to shun favouritism and partisanship in service, the Minister reiterated that officers, regardless of their background, should be given fair opportunities during leadership appointments.
“We must kill favouritism, nepotism, partisanship, and selfishness. What is important to us as a nation is for a son of a nobody to get to the highest level without knowing anybody,” he said.
At the function was the Permanent Secretary, Dr. Magdalene Ajani; CDCFIB Secretary, Major General Abdulmalik Jibrin (Rtd); and all principal heads of agencies under the Ministry of Interior including the Nigerian Correctional Service, Sylvester Ndidi; Nigeria Immigration Service, Kemi Nandap; Federal Fire Service, Engr Abdulganiyu Jaji; and the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps, Ahmed Abubakar Audi.
