Without doubt, recruitment exercises have now metamorphosed into full-blown circus spectacles in this country. They are now seen as avenues of making money and extorting millions of young graduates who are unemployed.
These days, individuals and firms with questionable corporate names and images invite graduates for interviews, only for the unsuspecting graduates to get to the venue of the interview and experience the disappointment of their lives.
Behind the interviewer’s desk is a haggard and hungry looking individual who claims he has got the influence of helping them get a job that could fetch them as much as five hundred thousand naira in two weeks. In a perfect society, even the senate president is not expected to earn that much in two weeks.
These swindlers engage graduates in tales of how they travelled to Dubai last year, and how they would be checking out Hong Kong this year. In reality, these are people that have never travelled before in an air-conditioned car.
At the beginning of the session, they would make the graduates understand that out of the entire multitude, they are only interested in picking just two or three lucky people. Shockingly, and before the session comes to an end, they would demand some sort of registeration fee from the innocent youths. What the graduates are registering for, they do not even know.
These fraudsters are usually so desperate that when the job-seekers tell them they are not with money, they go as far as pleading with them to part with whatever amount they have just to show their commitment and belief in their organisation’s ability in helping them get a job. Why should these innocent youths show their dedication to a non-charitable organisation? Some would even go as far as showing the job-seekers the way to the nearest ATM machine; this shows the level of desperation on the part of the obviously hungry and phony employers.
Some young graduates usually fall prey to these ploys, but who would blame them? It is simply due to the desperation of getting something doing since the government has refused to do its job of creating jobs for its citizens.
I am sorry, I think the topic of these scammers is not for today, it is for another day. I should go back to today’s topic.
The University College Hospital, Ibadan which is the first and probably the best teaching hospital in Nigeria came out with vacancies last two years advertising for 35 positions. These are: Statistical officer, Ass. Educational Officer, Occupational therapy technician, Educational officer, Confidential secretary grade, Information technology officer, Info technology officer with emphasis on internet security and website management, higher executive officer (accounts), higher estate officer, higher technical officer, higher store officer, higher records officer II, dental nurse, audiologist, speech therapist/pathologist, occupational therapist, prosthetists/orthotists, Information officer II (Media), biomedical engineer, civil engineer grade II, Lecturer II (computer science), Lecturer II (anatomy and physiology), Lecturer II (Biostatistics), Lecturer II (health care and personnel management), Lecturer II (data classification and clinical coding), Higher environmental health officer tutor, Medical social worker, Scientific officer II, dental technologist, dental therapist, senior technical officer, medical physicist, medical imaging scientist, physiotherapist, and principal engineer.
Some of the job placements required that applicants had a Bachelor’s degree, and some had HND and Master’s Degree as a requirement. But more importantly, none of these adverts stated that applicants must have a credit in mathematics as a requirement. This loophole later become an object of controversy as some applicants were prevented from writing the exams because they did not have credit in mathematics.
These are my arguments:
1. Under no circumstance should any of the federal government parastatals be charging applicants before they can obtain job placement forms. A man who does not have a job is told to go look for one thousand naira to pick up a form for the job that is supposed to be created by the government. I wonder why we have our parents paying tax to the coffers of the government if at the end of the day there children would be charged in picking an employment form. What’s worse is, picking an employment form doesn’t even guarantee the job. If this had been done by a private firm, there would not have been any fuss. After all, the aim of every private enterprise is to maximize profit. It is also interesting to note that firms like banks and other private firms don’t even charge money for forms. This is why it is really disturbing that the same government we voted in and that our fathers and our fore-fathers have been serving is now the one charging us before we can get ourselves employed. It only shows how greedy our government and even the leaders of such parastatals have become. It shows the degree of dilapidation and the crack in the administrative framework that has crippled our government. It is however heart-wrenching to note that such practise is happening in an environment filled up with academia, most of whom had studied abroad. These academia definitely know how these things are done abroad.
2. My second point is why demand that a person who is applying for the post of Media officer have a compulsorily credit in mathematics? Will he be making use of BODMAS in working as an astute media officer? Or would almighty formula be required to speak to the press?
3. My third point is, why not include a compulsory credit in mathematics and English in the advert in the first place? I am sure people like me and some other people won’t even waste their time paying #1000 applying for the position. This is simply a rip-off of the highest order. Why should a federal government con its citizen through its parastatal? Why should young graduates be raped financially? The same citizens they swore to protect and provide for.
4. My fourth point is how would this government be able to sanction private firms if they all decide to start charging as much as #20,000.00 for graduates to pick up employment forms? They definitely can’t because even their agencies are guilty of such crimes.
5. Now, some of us have been denied employment because we failed to have a credit in Mathematics. Perhaps we should show them how wrong they are and try to show how astute we are in calculations. For the post of Media officer II, two batches of applicants wrote the exams. The second batch had 410 people; we should assume the first batch had the same number; invariably, this means the total number of people who wrote the exam was about 820. Assuming about another 400 people have been disqualified on the basis of not having credit in Mathematics and English language, that brings the total number of those who applied for the position to be around 1220. If we multiply this by the #1000 naira each of us paid, that is about #1,220,000.00. Multiply that with the number of positions (35 in all), that is about #42,000,000.00 (forty two million naira only). Now, about forty two million naira has been extorted from the poor graduates who are desperately in need of a job and who are really hoping that the government will take up her responsibility to her people.
Now we sincerely hope that this money won’t be embezzled or mismanaged by the leadership and management of UCH. At least, if they would descend so low to the level of ripping unemployed graduates off, the money should be channelled into a reasonable project in the hospital and not the pocket and coffers of the leadership.
6. Part of the requirements of the position of Information officer II (media) is to have a Bachelors degree in English and other related courses; a diploma in Phonetics would also be an added advantage. Wow, but they still did not consider someone who had a degree in Linguistics and even a Masters holder in the same field.
This just shows how shallow minded they are and how incompetent the HRs in-charge of employment. If they would prioritise someone who has a credit in mathematics above someone who has a Masters degree in Linguistics not just in any university but in University of Ibadan, The first and the best, then it’s a shame!
Now, the purpose of this article is not to further soil the already soiled name of University College Hospital, Ibadan, but to alert the government to stop the further extortion of unemployed graduates by this hospital. This practise of charging #1000 for forms has been on for a while, it is high time the government stopped it. And this is not just about UCH but all federal government parastatals. Under no circumstance should government agencies be charging for employment forms. Providing employment opportunities should be a government’s prerogative. It should not also come at a cost.
UCH should have been honest and forthcoming from the onset by stating that part of the requirements of employment is a compulsory credit in Maths and English, not just screening people on this basis after conning and raking in millions of naira from unemployed graduates. It is like a saying that ‘the rich will keep conning the poor to get richer’. A lot of people will not bother collecting the form for #1000 had the requirements for the positions been stated clearly from the beginning.
I won’t even advocate for the refund of the #1000 because it will be a waste of time and energy on my part. At least not in the Nigeria of today but I will advocate that the government must make sure the leadership of the Hospital be held accountable in the way the millions extorted was spent. I know that is a tough and almost impossible task to ask of the government of today to do, considering the fact that those at the top are probably the biggest agents and angels of corruption. Truth be told, the present minister of health is yet to be linked with any scandal. He seems like an honest civil servant. I hope he would read this and take necessary action.
I will not also advocate for the cancelation of the whole examination because it will be too selfish of me and it won’t be fair to those who had written the examinations. But I will advise the hospital to get better and employ qualified HRs who will understand that for job positions like that of an Information Officer (media), a masters in English, Linguistics and Mass Communication should supersede a credit in mathematics.
Written by Adeeko Victor