No fewer than 60,000 graduate applicants on Monday, 8 February, were seen jostling for employment in Lagos State Traffic Management Authority (LASTMA) with openings only available for 1,200 persons.
According to PM News, Governor Akinwunmi Ambode of Lagos state is planning to beef up the traffic manpower of its traffic agency and the Vehicle Inspection Officers (VIO), hence the recent call for new entrants an advert for recruitment last month in some newspapers.
Investigations have now revealed that more than 60,000 graduates comprising HND and degree holders put in for the job, a clear show of the country’s level of unemployment.
The online application portals which are being handled by the state’s Ministry of Science and Technology have been able to capture the data of over 60,000 applicants for the vacant positions.
State’s Head of Service, Olabowale Ademola revealed that 1,200 successful applicants from the lot would be employed into LASTMA, VIO and other lesser positions in the civil service.
Last week, thousands of shortlisted HND holders thronged the State’s Civil Service Commission, SCC, for screening, with the examination to be conducted in batches at the Public Service Staff Development Centre, Lagos (PSSDC), Magodo.
PM News was at the PSSDC on Monday, where thousands of HND holders came for oral screening, while the screening for degree holders also kicked off simultaneously at the CSC’s office, with thousands of degree holders shortlisted showing up for screening, while their oral examination would be conducted next week.
Ajibola Aribiyi, Permanent Secretary, CSC, who spoke with P.M.NEWS at Magodo, venue for HND screening, refused to disclose the actual number of applicants, but said he would do that after the conclusion of the exercise.
He said it was too premature to disclose the number of applicants now or the number the government wanted to employ as more applicants were still coming in from interested bodies.
Aribiyi said by Friday, he would call our reporter to disclose the actual figure to him, but that he would prefer to keep mum for now and face the ongoing screening squarely.
He said: “As I speak with you now, many people are in the commission undergoing screening,” adding that it was after the screening that the actual figure would be known.
Efforts to persuade him to speak further proved abortive, but P.M.NEWS investigation revealed that over 60,000 jobless graduates might have applied for the job.
One of the shortlisted applicants who came for screening at PSSDC on Monday and craved anonymity, said the oral interview was just to know the origin of the applicants as the interviewers asked questions pertaining to certain places and locations to ascertain if they were truly from the areas they claimed.
The last stage of the interview for the shortlisted candidates would be fitness test as they would be ordered to engage in a short distance marathon to ascertain their fitness for the LASTMA and VIO jobs. That has been scheduled for a later date.