Recruitment into paramilitary agencies begins

The Nigeria Society for Criminology (NSC) has said Nigeria must investigate the 53,811 awaiting trial inmates in its Correctional Centres. Due to challenges confronting the Nigeria Correctional Service (NCoS), scholars in the field of criminology and the criminal justice system would converge on the University of Abuja (UNIABUJA) to examine Correctional Service Reformation in the country, the President of NSC, Prof Oludayo Tade, disclosed in a statement made available to The Guardian in Ibadan, Oyo State, yesterday.

This was as the Civil Defence, Correctional, Fire and Immigration Services Board (CDCFIB) announced the commencement of a nationwide recruitment into the four prominent paramilitary agencies under its purview.

The UNIABUJA conference, which will take place on June 26 and 27, 2025, aims to present evidence emanating from the research conducted by NSC, which is aimed at promoting justice, achieving rehabilitation of inmates and ensuring social reintegration of discharged inmates.

The statement signed by Tade noted that the conference, with the theme ‘Correctional service reformation in Nigeria: Promoting justice, rehabilitation and social reintegration’ would feature presentations from over 100 researchers and postgraduate students in the fields of criminology and security studies.

According to him, the conference objectives are to assess the current state of Nigeria’s correctional system and the need for reforms; explore strategies for effective reformation, rehabilitation and reintegration of ex-inmates; interrogate the role of law, policy and human rights in the penal reform; analyse probation, parole, alternative to dispute resolutions including restorative justice; assess impact and implication of the 2019 Nigeria Correctional Services Act; and discuss the challenges facing correctional services in Nigeria and make policy recommendations for mitigating them.

He disclosed that the keynote speaker, the Controller-General of Corrections, Sylvester Nwakuche, will speak on the ‘2019 Correctional Service Act: Challenges and Prospects for effective implementation’, while the lead paper presenter, Prof Christopher Uguokwe of the Department of Sociology and Anthropology, University of Nigeria Nsukka (UNN), will speak on “Human Resources Management in Penal and correctional facilities”

According to an official statement published on the CDCFIB website, suitably qualified Nigerians were invited to apply for vacant positions in the NCoS, Nigeria Immigration Service (NIS), Federal Fire Service (FFS) and the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC).

“The CDFIPB and NCoS, NIS, FFS and Civil Defence Corps are currently inviting applications from suitably qualified candidates for enlistment into the services,” the notice read.

The recruitment spans three major categories: Superintendent Cadre, Inspectorate Cadre and Assistant Cadre, with multiple roles open under each category.