NNPC recruitment criteria exclude graduates from poor homes, says NANS

The national leadership of National Association of Nigerian Students has rejected what it calls “anti-poor and anti-masses” recruitment requirements of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corp[oration.

NANS National Public Relations Officer, Mr. Adeyemi Azeez, made the position of the student body known in a statement on Sunday in Abuja.

NANS alleged that it was a deliberate and well structured resolve to play out many graduates, especially those from poor background.

According to him, it is no longer news that regular occurrences of incessant strikes have long marred the nation’s education sector. “Therefore, ordinarily, an undergraduate that applies for a four- or five-year programme may end up staying nine or 10 years on campus pursuing a bachelor degree.

“NANS will not fall cheap to this deliberate attempt at disenfranchising majorly the real and qualified Nigerian graduates.

“These graduates who have gone through rigorous stages within the Nigerian universities and polytechnics should not be disenfranchised of this opportunity.”

Azeez added that the association also makes bold to say that unbiased research has shown that mostly graduates of government owned universities perform far better than graduates of expensive private universities.

He, however, called on NNPC to, within 72 hours, withdraw all “anti-poor and anti-masses conditions.”

“Failure to comply with this ultimatum, NANS will move out en-mass to protest or shut down the activities of NNPC.

“The association will also not hesitate to expose many of the ongoing and recent past frauds being perpetrated by this Corporation,” he added.

The News Agency of Nigeria reports that the criteria for Graduate Trainee, among others, require applicants to have graduated from an accredited university/polytechnic/monotechnic not earlier than 2014.

The criteria also required that applicants must not be more than 28 years of age as at December 31, 2018.

(NAN)