No fewer than 70,000 applicants are jostling for placement in the present recruitment in the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA).
Ahead of the deadline for the submission of the application letters, not less than 70, 000 applicants have submitted applications for various positions in the grade ‘A’ parasatal in the Federal Ministry of Transportation.
A breakdown of the figures showed that while no fewer than 50, 000 applicants submitted applications online, 20,000 submitted manually to NPA House, the corporate headquarters of NPA situated at Marina, Lagos.
Impeccable sources at the authority head office said that many more applicants are still submitting applications just as the deadline for submission inches closer.
The large number of applicants has put the Managing Director of NPA, Ms. Hadiza Bala Usman under pressure as those close to the corridors of power on her neck to ensure that their candidates are shortlisted in in the final list for employment in the authority.
Besides the NPA Managing Director, some of the lobbyists are also on the neck of the board members of the authority in order to favour their candidates.
It was also gathered that some of the lobbyists have turned Usman and the NPA Board Chairman abodes into a Mecca as part of the strategies to get their preferred candidates as employees of NPA.
Though no one was ready to speak publicly on the factors that will determine the selection of applicants, it was gathered that qualifications, experience and how influential the person backing each applicants will count in the selection processes.
The board and management of the authority are expected to begin the selection of shortlisted applicants at the expiration of the deadline for the submission of applications.
Investigation revealed those shortlisted who will be subjected to further tests before they are finally selected as NPA workers.