800,000 applied for 1,500 INEC jobs – Jega

The Independent National Electoral Commission Chairman, Prof. Attahiru Jega, on Thursday said 800,000 people applied for the 1,500 vacancies in the commission.
Jega, who made this known during anAfrican Independent Television programme, denied an allegation that the commission had secretly recruited people to fill the posts which he said were well advertised in national newspapers.
The INEC chairman also flayed de-registered political parties which accused the commission of acting a script written by the Peoples Democratic Party.
He said the allegation was not only uncharitable, but also insulting to him and other commissioners in INEC.
Explaining the commission’s ongoing recruitment exercise, he said the commission was fair and acted according to the law.
According to him, apart from advertising in several newspapers, the advertisements were posted in state and local government electoral offices.
He said, “There is no way anybody will say he missed the advertisement. We put an application form online and over 800,000 people applied. That information was provided.
“On the basis of the information, we did our screening.  INEC wants to employ 1,500 people during this recruitment exercise and over 800,000 applied.
“There is no way you can interview 800,000 people. We have criteria for short-listing  those that will be invited. For example, we are employing people for entry level positions. But  people, who have Master’s and PHD applied. There is no way we can employ them for the entry level positions.”
The INEC chairman also faulted the political parties that said the deregistration of political parties was to pave the way for a one-party system, with the PDP being the only party in the country.
Jega insisted that the de-registration of the political parties complied with the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria and the Electoral Act 2010 as amended.
He stated, “It (the allegation) is laughable. It is uncharitable to us. It is an insult to many of us that people can think that those of that have been entrusted with this national responsibility can pander to anybody’s wish.”