Nigerian Prisons Service, Lagos State Command, has shortlisted 300 candidates for recruitment, the Controller, Mr Tunde Ladipo, has said.
Ladipo made the disclosure in an interview with News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Friday in Lagos, adding that the exercise would take place from Monday March 18 to Saturday March 23..
According to him, preparations for the successful conduct of the exercise which will include both written and oral tests, have been concluded.
“We are set to conduct the 2018 recruitment for Nigerian Prisons.
“Over 300 shortlisted applicants have been notified and invited for the interview from Monday, March 18, to Saturday, March 23.
“The interview is for candidates for the Superintendent cadre to the Assistant Superintendent (ASP) and others.
“We must warn, that those who are not invited for the interview are not to come to the venue of the exercise for security reasons.
“We have put adequate security measures in place to ensure a hitch-free conduct of the exercise just as we are also enjoining the candidates to comport themselves throughout the period,” Ladipo said.
The prisons boss noted that the essence of the exercise was to boost manpower of the service and inject new blood.
According to him, there is a shortfall of manpower as a result of retirement of staff.
He noted that to this end, there was a need to fill the existing gap created by the retirement of old staff and bring in new ones that would further boost the security of the various prisons.
“For instance here in Lagos, we have five prisons. We also have what we call the Cottage, a form of industry, which houses our printing section, welding and tailoring.
“We also have the poultry, fish pond and the dog section, which we call the Canine and the Arms Squad.
“The dogs are trained there as they also assist in carrying out security tasks too,” he said.
According to him, at the end of the recruitment, all successful candidates will undergo six months compulsory training.
Meanwhile, Ladipo has attributed the low incidence of jailbreaks in the state to the reformation programme put in place by the Controller General of Prisons, Ja’Afaru Ahmed.
According to him, Ahmed has continually shown strong commitment in improving the overall welfare of the inmates.
“I must say that the controller general has demonstrated so much love to these inmates whom he sees as his children by way of constant supply of all their needs.
“Despite the congestions in our prisons, I must give God the glory and also salute my controller general who has made it possible for all our inmates to enjoy welfare facilities.
“Our controller-general has, in his magnanimity, always ensured that they are well fed, constantly supply enough drugs to attend to their health issues, bedding, insecticides and others.
“Another important factor is the reformation that is spearheaded by the controller general himself. This to a large extent has ensured that we do not experience incidences of jailbreak,” Ladipo said.
