Nigerians Lament Frustration Over CDCFIB Recruitment Portal Failures

Across Nigeria’s six geopolitical zones, a wave of disappointment, anger, and heartbreak is spreading among thousands of jobseekers who say the Civil Defence, Correctional, Fire and Immigration Services Board (CDCFIB) has turned their hopes for employment into a nightmare.

For many young Nigerians battling unemployment, this recruitment exercise was supposed to be a rare chance to secure a dignified livelihood. Instead, it has become a harrowing ordeal that has wasted precious time, money, and emotional energy—while those in charge remain silent.

Speaking with Asiwaju Media, six applicants from different parts of the country shared painful stories that highlight just how callously the CDCFIB has treated citizens desperate to improve their lives.

From Kano in the North West, Malam Sani Mohammed described nights of endless frustration:
“I have been trying to register since the very first day. You fill the forms, you upload your credentials, and just when you think you’re done, the site freezes and wipes everything. It is as if they planned to disgrace us. This is no recruitment—this is mental torture.”

In the South East, Miss Chinwe Eze from Enugu could barely hold back tears as she spoke:
“I have not slept properly for three nights. I stay awake hoping the traffic on the site will reduce, but nothing changes. My small savings are gone because I kept buying data. I feel betrayed and humiliated by my own country.”

From the South South, Mr. Godwin Edet in Cross River State was furious:
“I am tired of trying. After uploading my documents four different times, the portal crashed each time I clicked submit. There is no helpline that works, no email replies. Are we supposed to be magicians? This is official wickedness.”

In the North Central, Mrs. Grace Danjuma in Plateau State said the experience has left her completely demoralized:
“I am a widow with two children. I was hopeful this opportunity would change our lives. Instead, I have spent days in frustration and tears. Nobody from CDCFIB has bothered to address us. They don’t care whether we live or die.”

In the South West, Mr. Tunde Afolabi from Lagos expressed outrage at what he called deliberate incompetence:
“They announced this recruitment everywhere—radio, newspapers, social media. But they never prepared for the flood of applicants. How can a federal government agency not have the capacity to run a functional website? It is an insult to our intelligence.”

And from the North East, Miss Aisha Abubakar in Borno State said the process feels like a cruel trick:
“We in the North East already struggle with poor network and insecurity. But even when you find a place with good signal, the site itself refuses to work. We feel completely abandoned. CDCFIB should apologize to the whole country.”

Many applicants have called on the Ministry of Interior and President Bola Tinubu’s administration to urgently intervene, fix the persistent technical failures, extend the deadline, and ensure that qualified Nigerians are not unfairly shut out by sheer negligence.

Civil society groups are also demanding an immediate investigation into how such a critical exercise could be handled with what they describe as “monumental carelessness.”

For now, thousands remain locked out of the system, their hopes suspended in a bureaucratic limbo that has shown no compassion and no accountability.

As of the time of filing this report, the CDCFIB recruitment portal remained largely inaccessible, and no official statement has been issued explaining why the process has failed so spectacularly.

Many Nigerians are now left to wonder: If a simple online application cannot be handled properly, what hope remains for meaningful reform and responsive governance?