On the police recruitment exercise

The Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) has called for the cancellation of the just concluded police recruitment examination, which was conducted by the Joint Admission and Matriculation Board (JAMB). Bishop David Oyedepo, President of Living Faith Church Worldwide otherwise known as Winners Chapel, has also added his voice to the debate.

The recruitment examinations, according to CAN, had 180 compulsory equations: Use of English, 60; Arabic Language, 40; Fine Arts, 40 and Agriculture, 40. With this structure, CAN believes the intent was to shortchange Christian applicants in the recruitment process.

Though the Police Service Commission (PSC) has denied CAN’s allegation, an independent investigation carried out by DAILY INDEPENDENT revealed that in parts of the North and Middle Belt, the questions were 180, and out of the number, about 40 were in Arabic. However, in the South-South, South-East and South-West there were only 60 questions in the examinations, with no question in Arabic.

With the structure of the examination in the Middle Belt and Northern Nigeria, applicants in these regions, who have not taken Arabic courses, are not likely to do well. And this, CAN argues, is a ploy to marginalize northern Christians in their various states.

So far, one newspaper reported that JAMB claims that the inclusion of Arabic in the examination was a mistake. This error, the Board says, only happened in 33 centers, according to the DAILY INDEPENDENT.

But this was an expensive mistake. Even if the questions in Arabic will not be eventually graded, the psychological impact and trauma on some applicants would have caused grave damage during the examinations.

This ‘mistake’ is not good for the polity. The just-concluded examinations have provoked all kinds of bitter religious debate. These kinds of conversations — which the Sultan rightly pointed out could result in a religious war — paint Nigeria as a fragile country in the eyes of foreign investors.

For instance, CAN argues that this ‘mistake’ was possible because the President and the Inspector General of Police (IGP) are Muslims. The association wondered why such mistakes have never occurred in other computer-based tests JAMB had conducted for the West African College of Surgeons, Medical and Dental Council of Nigeria and Pilgrims Board.

To make matters worse, CAN, in its response, wondered what the fate of Christians would be in Buhari’s second term. These kinds of allegations could be one of President Mohammadu Buhari’s major undoing in the 2019 elections. The more the President tries to convince Nigerians that his administration has nothing against Christians, the more ugly incidences like this surface.

However, cancelling the examinations, as CAN requested, would not be easy. The police recruitment examinations would have cost the Police Force and JAMB a lot, considering the millions of applicants that might have sat for the examinations.  In 2018, JAMB paid N600 per candidate to all examination centers that were used for the 2018 Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination.

The ball is now in the President’s court. Buhari has to show that he strongly disapproves of this expensive ‘mistake’ made by JAMB in the northern states. It is not enough to argue that all states and religions were represented in the results, which were released. The question is about the fate of northern Christians. Cancelling the examinations in the 33 centers affected in the north might be a way of reassuring northern Christians that he has no intention of marginalizing them.