Shortlisted paramilitary recruits told not to pay for drug tests

Applicants shortlisted for recruitment into four Nigerian paramilitary services have been told that their required Drug Integrity Test is already funded. The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency says the Ministry of Interior has covered the cost. Its notice is directed at this recruitment exercise; it should not be read as a statement that every drug test offered to the public is free.

The services involved are the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps, Nigeria Immigration Service, Nigerian Correctional Service and Federal Fire Service. NDLEA spokesperson Femi Babafemi said on October 30 that the ministry had made a bulk payment for the new intakes. Candidates and participating personnel were warned against making another payment through officials, testing centres or other channels.

NDLEA advised applicants to reach the testing platform through the designated access points on their own institutions' recruitment portals. That route matters: it connects the candidate to the arrangements for the funded exercise. Seeing a general payment option elsewhere does not, by itself, override the agency's specific instruction for these recruits.

For someone preparing to attend, the useful first step is to confirm the recruitment notice and follow the institution's instructions for registration and documentation. Keep the application details consistent across the process and retain the notices received. A message asking for money should be checked against the official instructions before any payment is considered.

The warning concerns the cost of the test, not exemption from it. A funded screening requirement still has to be completed through the designated process. Nor does a place on a shortlist, a test appointment or a payment receipt on its own establish that a person has completed every stage of recruitment or received a final appointment.

Candidates who have already paid should retain their transaction records and seek clarification through the recruitment institution or agency's verified contact channels. The notice does not set out a refund procedure, so a refund, timetable or repayment link should not be assumed. The central instruction remains clear: do not pay again for the drug test covered by this recruitment arrangement.