Last Saturday’s tragedy, which left at least 18 job seekers dead during the botched Nigeria Immigration Service’s (NIS) recruitment, has opened a can of worms on the dirty deals going on at the Interior Ministry, reports SUNDAY ODITA...
FOR
the umpteenth time, the Ministry of Interior and the Nigerian
Immigration Service (NIS) have incurred the citizens’ wrath for
‘dehumanizing’ hapless, job-seeking graduates.
Sources told The Guardian that the ugly events of last Saturday, which led to the death of at least 18 persons at the various recruitment centres across the country would have been averted, if the Minister of Interior, Mr. Abba Moro had allowed the Nigerian Immigration Service (NIS) to handle the exercise.
Officials of the four para-military services under the Ministry of Interior are now taking advantage of the recruitment imbroglio to highlight some of the Minister’s alleged excesses, which they listed as tribalism and high-handedness.
For instance, for the first time in history, the NIS recruitment process was contracted to an external firm, Drexel Nigeria Limited. A top government official confided in The Guardian, that because the NIS was not directly involved in the exercise, it was difficult for it to liaise with relevant government agencies such as the Police, Civil Defence Corps and the Federal Road Safety Commission (FRSC), that would have helped to control the massive crowd and provide medical services in the event of an emergency last Saturday. This is coming on the heels arguments by some stakeholders that there was no wisdom in inviting such a huge number of applicants for an interview on the same day. Another private security operator, who pleaded anonymity, also absolved the NIS of any culpability, insisting that the NIS had little or no role to play in the entire process, as the private company hired to do the job had collected money from the applicants.
However, Moro, who has come under heavy criticisms over the incident, has announced plans to set up a panel of inquiry to probe the stampede, which also left about 700 people injured.
Announcing the plan to constitute a probe panel few days ago, when he visited the injured victims at the National Hospital, Abuja, Moro said membership of the proposed panel would be drawn from various stakeholders. He said: “The committee would be set up to examine the necessary things to be done in this circumstance and it would consists of all stakeholders, including the Civil Society, because what happened was a national tragedy and all Nigerians and Nigeria’s observers are interested in knowing what happened.”
He explained that the preliminary information he received showed that some people, who did not apply for the NIS vacancies had tried to cash in on the openness of the exercise to gain entry into the stadium, “because the idea was that, people should show preferences for the centres they want to write the examination, which we have displayed appropriately.”
Moro had also noted that his intention was not put an arrangement that would lead to deaths in place, but to conduct a transparent recruitment exercise, through a level playing field for all applicants.
But in a swift reaction, President Goodluck Jonathan has also issued queries to both Moro and the NIS Comptroller General, Mr. David Paradand over the incident. They would have a hard time convincing the President on why they should not be sanctioned.
Also reacting to the tragedy, Speaker of the Federal House of Representatives Speaker, Aminu Tambuwal urged the federal government to investigate the remote and immediate causes of the incident and advised that a strategy be mapped out to prevent a future recurrence.
Tambuwal had, through his Special Adviser on Media and Public Affairs, Malam Imam Imam, said the death of the applicants was “sorrowful and regrettable” just as he urged governments at all levels to work closely with the organized private sector to tackle unemployment in the country.
The All Peoples Congress (APC), in its reaction, demanded Moro’s resignation, insisting that he should accept responsibility for the avoidable deaths. The party also alleged that tragedy was a “direct consequence of the 15-year misrule of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) led federal government.”
The Conference of Nigerian Political Parties (CNPP), nonetheless, said the federal government’s inability to curb corruption and generate employment culminated in the avoidable deaths. The party’s National Publicity Secretary, Osita Okechukwu, in a statement, said: “It is our candid view that the tragedy of unemployment is the outcome of the Federal Government of Nigeria’s nebulous and inchoate economic policy; which regrettably posits that government has no business in business and the monumental corruption, which governs the reproachable economic policy.”
Vice-President of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), Issa Aremu, while reacting to the tragedy, said Moro must get to the bottom of tragedy, failing which “he must resign from administering a ministry increasingly notorious for employment scandals and employment tragedies.”
It would be recalled that a similar exercise by the NIS ended in the death of scores of applicants in 2008. Besides, observers are of the view that no other ministry in the country has received so much criticism like the Interior Ministry.
It would be recalled that accusations and counter-accusations of corruption between Moro and the former Comptroller General of Immigration Mrs. Rose Uzoma had led to Uzoma’s ouster from her cherished job in 2012. She was unceremoniously retired following a controversial recruitment exercise that rocked the agency that year.
The statement announcing her sack, signed by a Director in the Ministry of Interior, Dr. R. K. Attahiru, had stated: “I am directed to convey approval of His Excellency, Dr. Goodluck Ebele, GCFR President, Commander in Chief of the Armed Forces of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, for you (Mrs. Rose Chinyere Uzoma) to proceed on your pre-retirement accumulated leaves.
“I am to further convey that you are to hand over the duties and responsibilities of your office on Wednesday, 16th January, 2013 to the most senior Deputy Comptroller General of Immigration in the person of Rilwan Bala Musa, who will act as Comptroller General of Immigration pending the appointment of a substantive CG of Immigration.”
Uzoma, who was appointed on July 30, 2010, was officially due to retire on March 6, 2013, but the controversial recruitment exercise, which she insisted not knowing anything about, led to her premature departure. But before she proceeded on retirement about a year ago, the second female Comptroller General of the NIS had blown the whistle, accusing Moro and his cronies of allegedly masterminding all the recruitment scandals bedeviling the NIS and other para-military agencies under the Ministry of Interior.
Officers of the various agencies, The Guardian gathered, are unhappy with the Minister’s “over-bearing tendencies and tribalistic sentiments,” which they insisted had been preventing the smooth and efficient running of the Para-military organizations, made up of The Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corp (NSCDC), Nigeria Prisons Service (NPS), Nigeria Fire Service (NFS) and NIS. Moro has so far denied any wrongdoing.
All the officers who spoke with The Guardian also accused Moro of pursuing an ethnic agenda. They accused the Minister of allegedly imposing Idoma officers on the leadership cadre of the NIS. A source alleged: “Sometimes, his choice of Idoma officers for critical assignments and postings is outrageous, as even those of them who are not qualified at all, get the attention of the Minister, who would always stick to them as the final and irreplaceable choice.”
Sources at the NSCDC also accused Moro of using his position to foster only the interest of his Idoma people. A source alleged: “Comrade Moro ensured that Benue State took majority of the positions recently filled during the replacement exercise in the Civil Defence Corps, with the Idoma tribe taking more than 90 per cent of the slots.” However, The Guardian could not independently verify the allegations on ethnicity and all efforts to reach Moro for comments were unsuccessful.
However, in November 2012, job seekers had besieged the Minister’s office in Abuja, accusing some Interior Ministry officials of operating a syndicate that ripped them off. Some of the protesters claimed at that time, to have paid between N350, 000 and N500, 000 to the syndicate, depending on the agency of their choice, but ended up not getting the promised jobs.
Scores of contractors had also, in the same year, flooded the Ministry, alleging extortions by its officials to the tune of millions, over promised contracts at the NPS that never materialized. The disenchanted contractors had stormed the Minister’s office demanding for either a refund of their money or the award of the promised contracts.
Sources told The Guardian that the ugly events of last Saturday, which led to the death of at least 18 persons at the various recruitment centres across the country would have been averted, if the Minister of Interior, Mr. Abba Moro had allowed the Nigerian Immigration Service (NIS) to handle the exercise.
Officials of the four para-military services under the Ministry of Interior are now taking advantage of the recruitment imbroglio to highlight some of the Minister’s alleged excesses, which they listed as tribalism and high-handedness.
For instance, for the first time in history, the NIS recruitment process was contracted to an external firm, Drexel Nigeria Limited. A top government official confided in The Guardian, that because the NIS was not directly involved in the exercise, it was difficult for it to liaise with relevant government agencies such as the Police, Civil Defence Corps and the Federal Road Safety Commission (FRSC), that would have helped to control the massive crowd and provide medical services in the event of an emergency last Saturday. This is coming on the heels arguments by some stakeholders that there was no wisdom in inviting such a huge number of applicants for an interview on the same day. Another private security operator, who pleaded anonymity, also absolved the NIS of any culpability, insisting that the NIS had little or no role to play in the entire process, as the private company hired to do the job had collected money from the applicants.
However, Moro, who has come under heavy criticisms over the incident, has announced plans to set up a panel of inquiry to probe the stampede, which also left about 700 people injured.
Announcing the plan to constitute a probe panel few days ago, when he visited the injured victims at the National Hospital, Abuja, Moro said membership of the proposed panel would be drawn from various stakeholders. He said: “The committee would be set up to examine the necessary things to be done in this circumstance and it would consists of all stakeholders, including the Civil Society, because what happened was a national tragedy and all Nigerians and Nigeria’s observers are interested in knowing what happened.”
He explained that the preliminary information he received showed that some people, who did not apply for the NIS vacancies had tried to cash in on the openness of the exercise to gain entry into the stadium, “because the idea was that, people should show preferences for the centres they want to write the examination, which we have displayed appropriately.”
Moro had also noted that his intention was not put an arrangement that would lead to deaths in place, but to conduct a transparent recruitment exercise, through a level playing field for all applicants.
But in a swift reaction, President Goodluck Jonathan has also issued queries to both Moro and the NIS Comptroller General, Mr. David Paradand over the incident. They would have a hard time convincing the President on why they should not be sanctioned.
Also reacting to the tragedy, Speaker of the Federal House of Representatives Speaker, Aminu Tambuwal urged the federal government to investigate the remote and immediate causes of the incident and advised that a strategy be mapped out to prevent a future recurrence.
Tambuwal had, through his Special Adviser on Media and Public Affairs, Malam Imam Imam, said the death of the applicants was “sorrowful and regrettable” just as he urged governments at all levels to work closely with the organized private sector to tackle unemployment in the country.
The All Peoples Congress (APC), in its reaction, demanded Moro’s resignation, insisting that he should accept responsibility for the avoidable deaths. The party also alleged that tragedy was a “direct consequence of the 15-year misrule of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) led federal government.”
The Conference of Nigerian Political Parties (CNPP), nonetheless, said the federal government’s inability to curb corruption and generate employment culminated in the avoidable deaths. The party’s National Publicity Secretary, Osita Okechukwu, in a statement, said: “It is our candid view that the tragedy of unemployment is the outcome of the Federal Government of Nigeria’s nebulous and inchoate economic policy; which regrettably posits that government has no business in business and the monumental corruption, which governs the reproachable economic policy.”
Vice-President of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), Issa Aremu, while reacting to the tragedy, said Moro must get to the bottom of tragedy, failing which “he must resign from administering a ministry increasingly notorious for employment scandals and employment tragedies.”
It would be recalled that a similar exercise by the NIS ended in the death of scores of applicants in 2008. Besides, observers are of the view that no other ministry in the country has received so much criticism like the Interior Ministry.
It would be recalled that accusations and counter-accusations of corruption between Moro and the former Comptroller General of Immigration Mrs. Rose Uzoma had led to Uzoma’s ouster from her cherished job in 2012. She was unceremoniously retired following a controversial recruitment exercise that rocked the agency that year.
The statement announcing her sack, signed by a Director in the Ministry of Interior, Dr. R. K. Attahiru, had stated: “I am directed to convey approval of His Excellency, Dr. Goodluck Ebele, GCFR President, Commander in Chief of the Armed Forces of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, for you (Mrs. Rose Chinyere Uzoma) to proceed on your pre-retirement accumulated leaves.
“I am to further convey that you are to hand over the duties and responsibilities of your office on Wednesday, 16th January, 2013 to the most senior Deputy Comptroller General of Immigration in the person of Rilwan Bala Musa, who will act as Comptroller General of Immigration pending the appointment of a substantive CG of Immigration.”
Uzoma, who was appointed on July 30, 2010, was officially due to retire on March 6, 2013, but the controversial recruitment exercise, which she insisted not knowing anything about, led to her premature departure. But before she proceeded on retirement about a year ago, the second female Comptroller General of the NIS had blown the whistle, accusing Moro and his cronies of allegedly masterminding all the recruitment scandals bedeviling the NIS and other para-military agencies under the Ministry of Interior.
Officers of the various agencies, The Guardian gathered, are unhappy with the Minister’s “over-bearing tendencies and tribalistic sentiments,” which they insisted had been preventing the smooth and efficient running of the Para-military organizations, made up of The Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corp (NSCDC), Nigeria Prisons Service (NPS), Nigeria Fire Service (NFS) and NIS. Moro has so far denied any wrongdoing.
All the officers who spoke with The Guardian also accused Moro of pursuing an ethnic agenda. They accused the Minister of allegedly imposing Idoma officers on the leadership cadre of the NIS. A source alleged: “Sometimes, his choice of Idoma officers for critical assignments and postings is outrageous, as even those of them who are not qualified at all, get the attention of the Minister, who would always stick to them as the final and irreplaceable choice.”
Sources at the NSCDC also accused Moro of using his position to foster only the interest of his Idoma people. A source alleged: “Comrade Moro ensured that Benue State took majority of the positions recently filled during the replacement exercise in the Civil Defence Corps, with the Idoma tribe taking more than 90 per cent of the slots.” However, The Guardian could not independently verify the allegations on ethnicity and all efforts to reach Moro for comments were unsuccessful.
However, in November 2012, job seekers had besieged the Minister’s office in Abuja, accusing some Interior Ministry officials of operating a syndicate that ripped them off. Some of the protesters claimed at that time, to have paid between N350, 000 and N500, 000 to the syndicate, depending on the agency of their choice, but ended up not getting the promised jobs.
Scores of contractors had also, in the same year, flooded the Ministry, alleging extortions by its officials to the tune of millions, over promised contracts at the NPS that never materialized. The disenchanted contractors had stormed the Minister’s office demanding for either a refund of their money or the award of the promised contracts.
culled from The Guardian
No comments:
Post a Comment