Claim: “500 persons successfully passed out of the 10k plus persons who submitted their application to the Liberia Immigration Service.”
Source: Shine Liberia
Verdict: True, there were over 10,000 applicants, but only 500 were selected.
Full Text: On Friday, October 11, 2024, Shine Liberia, an online blog, posted on its official Facebook page that 500 persons successfully passed out of over 10,000 plus persons who submitted their application to the Liberia Immigration Service.
Shine Liberia is an online Facebook blog in Liberia.
The post generated 201 reactions, 96 comments, and 6 shares from the time of the post to the time of this publication.
Verification: To verify this claim, we first contacted the Chief Communication and Public Affairs office of the LIS through both WhatsApp and direct text messages but got no response.
Stephen H. Zargo, the commissioner of the Liberian Immigration Service (LIS), was seen in a live video addressing members of the media at the Ministry of Information, Cultural Affairs, and Tourism’s (MICAT) regular press briefing.
During the briefing, Zargo said that the LIS began the process of recruiting five hundred men and women between the ages of 18 and 35, which was the result of the CSA retiring 318 officers of the LIS.
To fill in this gap, Zargo said “We needed to recruit. We put out an announcement and said all Liberians between the ages of 18 to 35 years and a high school graduate, good records, and have DEA and police clearance, we got almost 10,000.”
According to him, LIS announced the recruitment of 500 men and women to join, but the LIS received over 10,000 applications.
The total number of applicants nationwide was 9,743 all across Liberia. When we assess all of the requirements, we reduce the process to a written test. He said, “We got 8,100 nationwide. After the written test, the number was reduced to 6,300 applicants. We now left from 6,300 to 2,850 that went for a medical and drug test. 1,985 persons passed the medical and drug tests. From the 1,985 persons, we have selected 500 persons to go to the Liberia Immigration Service training in Foya, Lofa County,” Zargo asserted.
Conclusion: Based on our findings, we conclude that the post made by Shine Liberia about 500 persons successfully passing in the recent recruitment of the LIS out of the 10,000 applicants is correct.
Written by Watson Richards, Grant Fellow
