Civil Defence, Prison and Immigration Recruitment CBT: Over 200,000 Applicants Fail as Kogi State Leads in Number of Candidates

More than 200,000 applicants have failed the online Computer-Based Test (CBT) conducted for the Civil Defence, Correctional, Fire, and Immigration Services during the ongoing nationwide recruitment exercise held between November 12 and 19.

Statistics released by the Civil Defence, Correctional, Fire and Immigration Services Board (CDCFIB) via its X handle on Tuesday show that of the 872,391 candidates who participated in the test, 650,395 scored between 41 and 100, which is regarded as the pass mark.

A further breakdown revealed that only 77.9% of registered applicants sat for the online assessment. Another 16.8% were disqualified for various violations, while 5.4% did not show up.

Kogi State recorded the highest number of applicants at 72,497, followed by Benue State with 66,496. Other states in the top five include Kaduna (64,730), Kano (50,678), and Niger (49,514).

CBT Score Breakdown

0–40: 221,996 (25.4%)

41–60: 229,155

61–80: 278,543

81–100: 142,697

The CBT represents the third phase of the recruitment process. The initial phase—the application stage—attracted over 1.9 million submissions, significantly higher than the 573,000 applications recorded during the Nigerian Customs Service recruitment earlier in the year.

On a parastatal basis, the Nigeria Immigration Service (NIS) received the highest number of applications at 703,499. This was followed by the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) with 482,198 applicants. The Federal Fire Service (FFS) received 406,491 applications, while the Nigerian Correctional Service (NCoS) had 165,212 submissions.

For the second stage, a total of 1,120,491 applicants successfully completed the application requirements and were shortlisted for the online examination. Another 432,935 applications were incomplete, and 360,923 were disqualified.

The application process faced several complaints from applicants, most of which were linked to technical glitches and slow response on the recruitment portal during the early days of the exercise.