26m People Didn’t Apply for NNPC Job, Presidential Aide Reacts
– Buhari’s aide describes Sun newspaper’s publication as ‘Aseju’.
– He advises the newspaper to take a vantage point in weeding out disinformation and fake news.
Tolu Ogunlesi, a media aide to President Muhamamdu Buhari has reacted to the story published by the Sun newspaper which claimed that a total of 25. 6 million applications passed through the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) recruitment portal before it formally closed Tuesday.
According to the paper, a source familiar with the recruitment process said it further showed the picture of the magnitude of the country’s unemployment challenge.
The National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) revealed that Nigeria’s unemployment in the third quarter of 2018 (Q3,2018), rose from 18.8 percent in Q3 2017 to 23.1 percent in the third quarter of 2018.
The data further revealed that the total number of people classified as unemployed-which means they did nothing at all or worked for a few hours (under 20 hours a week) rose from 17.6 million in Q4 2017 to 20.9 million in Q3 2018.
The NNPC had begun the recruitment process on March 13, 2018, with the aim of filling various positions at the graduate trainees senior officers, supervisory and managerial cadres with the opening of its recruitment portal.
Reacting to the story via his Twitter handle, Ogunlesi berated the paper, saying it could have verified the story before going to publish.
“When one laments about Nigerian journalism it’ll be like ‘aseju’. Single Anonymous source tells The Sun that 25.6m people applied for NNPC jobs. With no verification whatsoever – and no alarm at the utter ridiculousness of the claim – the Sun publishes it.
“My guess is that the anonymous source probably meant ‘page views’ or ‘hits’, LOL. And then someone translated it as ‘applications’
“But how can you trust a paper that fails to carry out the most basic form of journalistic interrogation? What else are they possibly misreporting?
“Instead of doing the work of silencing Fake News and weeding out disinformation our newspapers have taken up vantage positions as promoters and amplifiers. Issokay.
“And if you went to secondary school, and still believed and RT’ed the blatantly fake news about 26 million people applying for NNPC jobs, kindly turn in your Certificate for an immediate downgrade at the nearest WAEC office thanks dears.
See his tweets below.
When one laments about Nigerian journalism it’ll be like ‘aseju’. Single Anonymous source tells The Sun that 25.6m people applied for NNPC jobs. With no verification whatsoever – and no alarm at the utter ridiculousness of the claim – the Sun publishes it: https://t.co/4eTP1bJqry
— tolu ogunlesi (@toluogunlesi) March 29, 2019
My guess is that the anonymous source probably meant ‘page views’ or ‘hits’, LOL. And then someone translated it as ‘applications’
But how can you trust a paper that fails to carry out the most basic form of journalistic interrogation.
What else are they possibly misreporting?
— tolu ogunlesi (@toluogunlesi) March 29, 2019
Instead of doing the work of silencing Fake News and weeding out disinformation our newspapers have taken up vantage positions as promoters and amplifiers. Issokay.
— tolu ogunlesi (@toluogunlesi) March 29, 2019
And if you went to secondary school, and still believed and RT’ed the blatantly fake news about 26 million people applying for NNPC jobs, kindly turn in your Certificate for an immediate downgrade at the nearest WAEC office thanks dears.
— tolu ogunlesi (@toluogunlesi) March 29, 2019
