The On going Naval recruitment is a reflection of the state of the nation.
The swam of young people I see daily outside the naval base is an indication of the high level of unemployment in the nation( as I refuse to agree that they all came because of love for the uniform).
As I pass by it is a common sight to see the applicants doing frog jumps, rolling on the floor etc. as many are being disciplined for their so called misconduct. The process is so disorganized as if it is conducted by market women; Applicants seat on the floor by the road(naval base at warri sapele road, warri)
According to an Applicant who currently putting up with me(he came from benin) he wasn't attended to until Wednesday even though he had being going there every morning since on Monday and many others were yet to be attended to. He was told to comeback on sat(today) for a written test, so I took him to my secondary school seat mate who is currently a naval officer(who I thought went through the same process) for some insight, but to our disappointment my friend told us point blank that the whole process is just a charade as the Nigerian navy is only planning to recruit 50 persons each from both states(Edo and Delta) represented here in warri and the said 50 names have already being short listed to the exclusion of those parading the Warri Naval Base premises since monday morning. Its therefore obvious, those that would be taken know themselves and do not even bother to show up until the day they are to collect their acceptance letter; a case study is himself who never went for any screening or test but only went to collect his acceptance letter on the last day of the exercise(his uncle is a rtd rear Admiral). He also advice that the applicant not wait till Saturday(today) but should go be at the naval base on Friday(yesterday).
With very little hope he left the house yesterday and return very late because they waited for the so called officer coming from abuja to address them(the officer came by 3pm). Anyway if he had not gone yesterday he wouldn't have known that the exam schedule for 9am has been rescheduled for 6am and that a minute late means no entry into the base, so by 5:20am he left the house for the base.
These are my grievances;
1. Why waste peoples time if they already have the names of those they want to take.
2. Why treat the applicants like sh!t( no shade and young officers punish them as they will)
3. Finally the Nigerian Navy cannot even organize a coordinated exercise (little wonder the protection of the water ways just behind their base is left in the hands of TOMPOLO)
In the absence of due process we get pot belly and inefficient men and women as our naval officers.