The Nation Newspaper

Tag: NIS

  • NIS tragedy and our faltering democracy

    Despair. That’s the stomach churning feeling you get when you hear terrible news. Despondency, anguish and misery are other appropriate words. When you hear of young men and women being trampled to death under the soles of their compatriots, it sucks the hope out of you like a vacuum connected to your innards. If your imagination is vivid and automatically stimulated, you immediately imagine the scene, the screams, and the horror. If you are obligatorily empathic, you put yourself under the shoes- the tennis shoes, the ’Nikes’ and the boots. You feel them on your back and in your eyes, in your crotch and on your knees. You realize you are dying but you wonder what will kill you- would it be the feet cracking your skull or the bodies falling on you and trapping the air in your lungs. You start to shout and that’s the last mistake you will ever make.

    Without attempting to speak for most people, it clear that the varying reactions by the different arms of the Nigerian government so far, to the Nigerian Immigration Service (NIS) tragedies fall short of the ideals of democracy and are therefore unsatisfactory. At the risk of sounding like a typical bad belle Nigerian who never sees anything right in the actions of those in power, I am going to explain my continued discontent.

    A proper place to begin will be to tackle the opposition. In a working democracy, the role of the opposition goes beyond shouting criticisms; it includes displaying alternatives and proffering solutions. There are several states run by opposition parties in this country yet all states have equally dire levels of unemployment and underemployment. Since job creation is not only the business of the federal government, states that are equally failing to provide jobs clearly lack the moral standing to criticize the federal government.

    More disheartening is the response of the National Assembly. The peculiar case of the Nigerian legislature can be illustrated with the example of a certain businessman having two employees. The first earns eight million naira for every eighty thousand earned by the other but they somehow end up doing the same work. This example describes the ridiculous inefficiency displayed by the National Assembly when it responds to multiple manslaughters by investigation. Why would the National Assembly have committees carrying out investigations that should be carried out by purpose trained policemen and for much less? Why have they taken the jobs of the police and left their main duties of legislating unfulfilled? Investigations are necessary because they could result in justice for the deceased; however appropriate legislations which could prevent likely reoccurrences are equally important.

    We need new laws, urgently, quickly and with lightning speed. We need comprehensive laws regulating the practice of recruitment in Nigeria. In spite of the abysmal organization of the tragic NIS interviews, the situation was made far worse by the several thousands of graduates who in spite of not being invited to the interviews, made their way there. The law should also proscribe the practice currently prevalent of employers inviting sometimes as high as 50 times more interviewees for the position needed. A situation where 90% of persons attending an interviewing have no chance of getting the job, means 90% of those people will have spent time, money and hope on very poor odds. Can you imagine being unemployed for over two years and part of that 90% forty times, How desperate will you be? Job seekers in Nigeria deserve better.

    Reluctantly I write about the executive, as reluctantly as a teacher will speak against that nice student impeded by cognitive disabilities. The federal government’s attempt at ‘placating the mob’, is of the regretfully funny variety.

    The basic rule of natural justice is a man should not be a judge in his own matter. This simply means that in any situation where one party is both the accused and the judge, what results cannot be called justice. Therefore, when through direct actions of the executive, young Nigerians die, how can anyone applaud the attempts of the same executive at adjudicating the matter?

    Inherent in a democracy are checks and balances; executive corruption or negligence cannot be tamed by that same executive in a working democracy. If the President wanted to resolve the issue speedily out of the respect for the deceased, the appropriate response will be admitting fault (civil responsibility) and then referring affected persons to the courts for identification and compensation. The courts are more equipped to determine what constitutes appropriate and sufficient compensation. The executive attempt is poorly thought out and has added more confusion to the system.

    Fellow Nigerians, for the love of all that is sane, when did automatic employment become a method of compensation? We have gotten ourselves in these quagmires as a country, as a result of people being in public positions for reasons other than merit. This has to stop. Death of a family member is not enough reason to deny better qualified people the jobs they deserve. We cannot encourage excellence when our system does nothing to reward it. How can we encourage our children to be their academic bests when every other reason but merit is the criteria for employment?

    More importantly, there are several principles guiding the award of damages/compensation in cases of wrongful death. Imagine that one of the deceased was an only child; can employment given to three family members of that family have the same effect as another family with seven unemployed children? Imagine again that one of the deceased was educated up to PhD level and another was an SSCE holder; is justice served if both families get the same compensation? There are many more questions the executive is not equipped to consider let alone answer. This is the job of the judiciary.

    However, the real culprit in all these, the agent of the state worth picketing is the Nigerian police. When citizens of a country die obviously non-natural deaths, it should go without saying that such deaths be investigated. Investigation should uncover cause and criminal responsibility. Every individual whose act or negligence caused those deaths should be held accountable; everyone from the officer/consultant who planned an exercise with such soaring levels of disregard for public safety, to the officers who whipped people with belts allegedly setting off the stampede. This is why we have laws and a police force.

    Democracy is beyond elections no matter how free and fair. It is a system with basic principles and specialized institutions. Demanding excellence and precision from our institutions is the only way to strengthen democracy. Our current political situation is in the truest sense the Kantian barbarism, worse, it is an elected barbarism. The ‘democracy’ of ants in a colony is ten times more admirable. This is the sad truth.

    • Ms Abraham a lawyer, lives in Abuja

     

  • They gathered to preach love

    They gathered to preach love

    Those who did not feel the slightest compunction over the heart-rending death of 19 job seekers in a stampede two weeks ago, at the recruitment exercise of the Nigerian Immigration Service (NIS), ought to have partaken of the outing. It was a gathering where those who never realised that love is a major ingredient of living so cherished by God knew better.

    “This should be a must-attend outing for every public office holder in the country. It is one that everyone who is at a loss for the cause of the various catastrophes in the land should witness. The main solution to our various problems as a nation is here.”

    A concerned Nigerian, Ogbonnaya Okike, made this observation after listening to various sermons that held guests spellbound at the kick-off of a three-day national conference of the Brotherhood of the Cross and Star (BCS), Christ Universal Spirited Children Fellowship (USCF).

    It was held at the National Theatre, Iganmu, Lagos, with the theme: Unified universal theocracy on earth. From the soul-stirring renditions of members of the choirs who, like other members of the brotherhood, appeared angelic in all-white robes, to the priests, love was on the lips of everyone as the soul of human co-existence.

    To Pastor Sunny Ekanem, Lagos State leader’s representative, and others who spoke at the gathering, unrepentant lovers of materialism are enemies of Christ and hence, have no place in the kingdom of God, which the brotherhood represents.

    The mammoth crowd shook in awe-inspiring ovation when the Chairman, BCS Executive Council, His Holiness Olumba Olumba Obu was ushered into the gathering by his pastors, led by the Chairman, Planning Committee of the convention, Anita Reginald Anyalor.

    After an outpouring of hearty songs by the various choirs, and speeches that all bordered on the need for love, righteousness and selflessness among humans, Obu blessed all and admonished the congregation never to depart from righteous ways.

    After the carnival, Parkson Edjeketa of the BCS, Ikeja, told reporters: “Thank you for being here to witness this. You can see that ours is not a secret cult as being insinuated at some quarters. We are for righteousness, which the bible teaches us, exalts a nation.”

    A leader of the brotherhood, Joseph Dike, spoke about how the convention affects our society thus: “We are out to break the boundary of religion, the barrier of our languages and other factors that have been posing problems to us. We decided to come together at this particular time when there is so much violence, bloodshed, acrimony and hatred. The bible teaches love as well as other religion; we expect children of God to come together and resolve our differences. We should forget all our biases, forget the hatred and those things that work against our wellbeing and come together as a family of God under one umbrella.”

    The brotherhood’s spokesman, Bishop Theophilus Idabre, debunked the seeming controversy surrounding the brotherhood, saying: “Brotherhood of the Cross is not a cult, nor a society; it is the kingdom of God on earth. It was established according to the prophesies of our Lord Jesus Christ. The foundation is based on His teachings. Look at the issue of condom use; what our Father teaches is abstinence and not getting involved in sexual indulgence.

    “There so much to benefit from this convention. With God, all things are possible. Lagos, being the venue of this conference will not only make spiritual gains, but economic advancement. We have witnessed so much spiritual progress, there are testimonies, people have been healed and the spiritual revival has been tremendous.”

    Sam Jack, a member, said: “The convention is for the spiritual development of Nigerians. Nigeria will grow better. I was born in the brotherhood. I used to be at the park, selling chips. The first day I met Olumba Olumba, he said: ‘Stay with me for two days and you will see what will happen to you.’ Since them, my life has transformed. Today, I have been to different counties that I could not have dreamt of. What we preach here is the solution to all the problems in the country.”

  • NIS Tragedy: Why I accepted responsibility- Moro

    NIS Tragedy: Why I accepted responsibility- Moro

    Interior minister, Comrade Abba Moro has explained why he took responsibility of the ill-fated recruitment exercise by the Nigerian Immigration Services (NIS) in which about 20 persons died as result of the stampedes that followed the shabby manner it was conducted.

    Moro said he could not deny responsibility because, apart from being the minister under whose watch the gruesome recruitment exercise happened, the buck about the whole saga stopped on his table. “The loss of these young Nigerians, who are needed as a critical human resource factor for nation building is most regrettable. As the minister of interior, under whose purview this unfortunate exercise took place, I cannot abdicate my responsibility. The buck stops at my table,” he stated.

    The Comptroller General of the NIS as well as a member of the NIS board and the recruitment consultant, Derex technology had last week made revelations that suggested complicity of the Interior minister.

  • NIS tragedy: We obeyed ministers’ order, says Comptroller

    NIS tragedy: We obeyed ministers’ order, says Comptroller

    Comptroller General of the Nigeria Immigration Service (NIS), David Parrandang, Thursday told the Senate that he simply obeyed the last order in the ill fated NIS recruitment exercise.

    Parradang consistently said that the NIS was never the “driver” of the recruitment process but simply complied with directives as given by the Ministry of Interior.

    The Immigration boss noted that throughout his years in the Service nobody had ever taken away the power of the NIS to recruit operatives of the Service from levels 1-7.

    He also told the committee that he was opposed to the collection of money from applicants.

    The Comptroller said that he also advised that the exercise be staggered and to adopt state of origin.

    He said that on the 9th of September, 2013 the Civil Defence, Fire, Immigration and Prison Services Board placed advertisements in some national dailies for appointments into the Superintendent, Inspectorate and Immigration Assistant cadres.

    He noted that the advert was signed by the then Board Secretary, Dr. Attahiru.

    “I immediately placed a call to the Secretary that I am not aware that the Board met on this issue. I also placed a call to the Permanent Secretary too whether there was any decision of the Board to place an advert in the papers.

    “I also placed a call to the two Commissioners that are seated before you here whether they were aware that the Board met and agreed for a publication to be made to recruit in the Service, but they all answered in the negative,” Parradang told the lawmakers.

    The Immigration boss said that he wrote the then Secretary to express “my dismay that as a stakeholder, as the head of a Service that is supposed to recruit, I was not aware of this exercise.”

    Parradang said that the Secretary pleaded with him that “I should understand with him that he was under immense pressure to put up the advert.”

    Parradang quoted Dr. Attahiru to have said “I should not write the letter but I said no, this is an official matter it is not an issue to do with Mr. David Parradang but with the Nigeria Immigration Service.”

    He added, “So I wrote him a letter that I was not given any benefit of a reply till way back in October when he had been removed from the Ministry. Along the line we were asked to look for funding and I had to look for funding for this exercise from the office of the Director General of Budget.

    “I wrote him a letter that we have waiver from the Federal Civil Service Commission to recruit 4,556 operatives of the Nigeria Immigration Service.

    “He told me categorically that Government was very conscious of overheads and there would be no money made available for it. I thought he was just being reluctant.

    “So I kept pressurizing him. I went to that office practically every day for the whole of that week and subsequent weeks.

    “The last concession I got from him is that I should wait that maybe it would be captured in the 2014 budget.

    “So along the line, the Committee of the Board met, we discussed this issue of Drexel (consultant) being the service provider and I said look, I am not in support of anybody collecting money for recruitment.

    “I remember very clearly during that meeting where the two Commissioners were, I told them that I read in the papers that in Niger State there was recruitment and people were meant to pay and there was a lot of outcry in that state and the Governor had to step in and cancelled it.

    “I said look we may go this line gentlemen if we don’t take time. But we kept going and we had no other board meeting to my knowledge till when the Secretary called us to the Steering Committee Meeting in January.

    “I told them that it is advisable for us to stagger the exercise and to go by states of origin. But when we appeared before this Committee of the Senate to in one of the committee rooms here, we were all seated here and we got to know that we will be conducting recruitment examinations on the 15th of March, 2014.

    “That was the first day I heard that. I did not hear from any board; there was no board meeting to that effect.

    ‘As a man in uniform you obey the last order.

    “Subsequently, everybody that asked me when is Immigration recruitment, before then I used to tell them that I don’t know but subsequently anybody that asks me I will reply that the Honourable Minister has declared categorically that we will recruit on the 15th of March and that is what we are going to stick to.

    “Then I sent the DCG Human Resources to attend all subsequent meetings and when it came to the issue of funding he told me that they have made a budget of N212million to be used for that exercise.

    “I asked him where the money will come from, knowing that Immigration does not have such money. He said it is expected that the company should pay for it. I said okay, go and take representatives of the Service Provider to the Honourable Minister of Interior maybe he would have funding for the exercise.

    “He told me there was none till about on 13th of March 2014 when N45million was made available for him to carry out that exercise.

    “We were left with the option of having to mobilize all our officers in the State Commands to attend to the recruitment exercise. We sent bulk SMS to all of them saying look gentlemen this is the day we have to work with.

    “All of them kept calling me to ask how they were going to get money to do this exercise? I told them if any money is given to me I will make it available to you.

    “No money was made available to the Nigerian Immigration Service and the exercise was supposed to be conducted.

    “If you notice too there was no advertisement giving clear guidelines on how to go about it until the 14th of March that people were asked to go to the various centres for the tests.

    ”I will like to state that on a state by state basis, the Nigeria Immigration Service is deeply pained about the events that led to loss of lives of 16 people.

    “I want the figures to be corrected. We had seven people that died in the Federal Capital Territory. We had five that died in Rivers State. We had two that died in Niger State. We had one in Bauchi. We had one in Edo. Those are the exact figures.

    ”On the fateful day when we started hearing reports that this was what was happening in the field I came back from Jos and I met the Secretary in his office we sat all through till midnight getting direct reports from each of the State Commands.

    “We had given them clear guidelines on what to do. We asked them to contact the regular stakeholders that we normally meet together like the FRSC, the NSCDC, hospital authorities that they should get people to assist us because this is a short notice thing but on day the crowd was really overwhelming.”

    Asked why he did not stop the exercise, he said, “We were not the drivers of this process at all.

    “So the decision to stop it would never have come from me. I was not the driver of this process and my position had been very clear on this.”

    On why he did not see the tragedy coming, he said, “Of all the capacities that God has given human beings nobody knows what is going to happen tomorrow.

    “All of us are optimistic basically. We were of the hope and of the belief that this is a genuine intended activity that nobody would want anybody to lose his life or even get injured. We did not and could not have seen that it was going to fail.”

    He added, “For all my years in the Service, nobody has ever taken away the power to recruit from level one to level seven from the NIS.”

    He said that he protested in writing but was assured that his fears had been taken care off.

    Most of the State Commands of the NIS told the committee that they received only N300, 000 out of N45 million released by the consultant to the Board.

  • Beyond Boko Haram: Countering the greed/extremist ideology

    The deaths of more than 16 young applicants who died in Abuja and other venues during the Nigeria Immigration Service, NIS recruitment exercise is a mirror of dysfunctional leadership and government. The tide of greed and inequality unleashed by the ruling elites through their selfish system of capitalism is the root of the nation’s top problem. It is therefore important for the ruling elites to stop extracting undue leadership milleage out of the peoples misery and poverty. However, the most serious struggle facing our generation is bad leadership values, corruption, the struggle against terrorism, and violent extremism which are forces for disorder and conflict. Nigerians value diversity, moderation, tolerance and pluralism, freedom of speech, religious freedom and good living condition. Against these values the ruling elites, terrorist and other extremist groups see and use the masses democratic ignorance as a vulnerability to exploit. The ruling elites are corrupting the tenets of democracy just as the Boko Haram are decontextualising Quranic passages thereby distorting the tenets of Islam. They rely on the fanciful doctrine of abrogation to promote violence using extreme religious interpretations of the Sharia Law to justify killing innocent souls and suicide bombing.

    The Quran elaborates the right to life, respect, equity, justice and liberty, the right to acquire knowledge, to work, the right to basic need and to privacy. The global struggle is that when extremist and especially terrorist values go unchallenged, according to Alexandra Downer, a former Australia Minister for Foreign Affairs ‘more and more people, mainly young men, risk being recruited … This is happening in the Middle East, it is happening in South East Asia and is happening in Western countries.’ Nigeria is not an exemption hence, the challenge is that extremist ideology demand a joint campaign because silence or siddon look – a sign of submission is not an option in such a time as this when Nigeria is heading towards a bleak future through extremist cultural values. Beyond Boko Haram is therefore a call to counter the extremist ideologies and narratives in Nigeria before it is too late.

    The activities of Boko Haram insurgents in Northern Nigeria and its ideology is more or less what is called the terrorist narrative shaped by the writings of Islamists like the Egyptian militant Sayyid Qutb that ignores the authoritative mainstream views of the Islamic world. The Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) have also crafted an ideology shaped by the terrorist narratives which is sharply at variance with Islam’s emphatic renunciation of aggression and violence. The argument is that Islam is under attack from the West and that the only way to unify the Islamic world which is divided is by eliminating all Western influence vehemently especially in Nigeria. The aim is to pursue with total commitment as a religious duty, hence, slaughtering of innocent people has become the order of the day especially in the North East of Nigeria. Terrorism is now alternative and legitimate tactic for Jihad due to their lack of military and technological means. The condemnation and rejection of this ‘nihilistic terrorist ideology and murderous methods’ of Boko Haram by the Sultan of Sokoto, Alhaji Muhammad Sa’ad Abubakar III and other Muslim leaders needs to go a step further. This is because ‘the terrorist narrative does still seem to strike a chord in many Muslim communities and its does win recruits,’ coupled with the poverty ravaging most of our communities. The Muslim leaders need to unwrap and counter the terrorist narrative/religious mantles Boko Haram is using as agents of insurrection to spread their ideology because they indoctrinate passive sympathisers to commit different atrocities.

    The Boko Haram and other extremist/militant groups in Nigeria are capitalising on the corruption, injustice, lack of economic and democratic freedoms in the country thereby drawing ‘strength from the natural tendency of people to turn to religion (or ethnic affiliations) in times of change and uncertainty.’ Generally, most Nigerian are uncertain about the leadership and the performance of Government hence, greed and extremism breeding in such uncertain contexts are less than ideal. It is argued that ‘the virtue of democracy is that where there is a capacity for people to offer alternative plans to improve lives extremist ideology becomes less appealing.’ The challenge is ‘if there aren’t alternatives, people will stray to the extremist ideology because extremism offers a simplistic kind of utopian ideal.’

    Extremist ideology not only indoctrinates passive sympathisers including the Almajiris (migrant students), and jobless youths negatively, it also empowers the active political and religious players to promote their economic interests. Nigerians are becoming more religious day by day but this does not translated to responsibility and integrity. People now use and see religion that ‘offers simple, utopian solutions to complex problems, a method that has attracted recruits to radical causes down through the ages.’ In a nation where democracy is just about elections without manifestos and accountability, extremism will flourish as the order of the land. Kidnapping is now a demonic and extremist challenge in Nigeria. Human life is now a major trade in Nigeria on the altar of ransom payment or killing, and atimes both together. The pro-Biafra group, Biafra Zionist Movement recently invaded Enugu State Government House and successfully hoisted the flag of the Republic of Biafra. The Ijaw warlords and Odua Peoples Congress are not resting over the 2015 election. The greed and extremist tendencies in Nigeria are becoming a cancerous wound that need an urgent approach. A well develop democratic system is about the checks and balances to prevent leadership abuse and unending looting of the nation’s commonwealth. Democracy in Nigeria has been captured by the ruling elites hence no judiciary independent, no security, and oppression is breeding extremism and militancy all over the country. Just as Boko Haram is becoming, more or less, a political masquerade and weapon with religious piety, other extremist/militant ideologies are protestant politicians with cultural undertones and agendas.

    The challenge is how to overcome extremist narratives politically, socially, and religiously. According to Arthur Koestler who wrote about the burning of Berlin’s Reichstag in 1933, an event which gave rise to Nazi Germany, ‘we said that if you don’t quench those flames at once, they will spread all over the world …’ The flames of greed and extremist narratives are all over our beloved country and urgent action must be taking as we approach another season of election. As a people, we must arise and promote common values, accountability, love for others, leadership as a service and peoples-shaped democracy. If the only thing the on-going Confab would achieve is to confront the greed and extremist ideologies and defend peoples-shared values, let it be, rather than just another assembly of 492 tongues ruling elites and political godfathers. The paradox is that some of the ruling elites and political godfathers with a whooping 12 million naira for the 3-month duration of the Confab uses the jobless youths and vulnerable masses to win elections and there after abandoned them. The idle hands later become a serviceable hands for extremist practices. Who is fooling who in Nigeria? A visit to some towns and villages outside the state capitals and local government headquarters in Nigeria will show the depravity and depression average Nigerians are going through on daily basis without any hope of tomorrow. It is only in an insane society that the flagrant display of stolen and ill gotten wealth is acceptable.

    Nigeria is blessed by God but ‘jinxed and cursed’ by the few greedy ruling elites exploiting the human and natural resources for personal gain. According to the NNPC, Nigeria lost 109.5 barrels of oil in 2013 but our ruling elies are now flying in state-of-the-art private jets. God has blessed us with creative, strong, intelligent youths coupled with good weather and the best crude oil (Bunny Light) in the world but today, Nigerian youths ranked among the top unemployed youths in the world. Our man-made problems may be solved by man if we obey God’s commandments. The fate of our country is in God’s hand but we must do our part by repenting and using our challenges as opportunity to overcome the menace of Boko Haram and also counter other extremist ideologies and narratives. Nigeria’s problems is not beyond Nigerians because the masses are the decisive element of their common destiny. Our peace and prosperity is not in separation or disintegration but in our peaceful coexistence, justice, and discouraging flagrant display of stolen and ill gotten wealth. God bless Nigeria.

     

    Very Rev Dr Deji Okegbile, Nigerian Methodists Chaplaincy, United Kingdom/Ireland.

  • Immigration stampede: Govt to create more jobs

    Immigration stampede: Govt to create more jobs

    Federal Government has vowed to honour the memory of the dead Nigerian Immigration Service (NIS) applicants by creating more jobs.

    Speaking at the inaugural Housing Stakeholders’ Implementation Summit in Abuja yesterday, the Coordinating Minister for the Economy and Minister of Finance, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, said: “The best way to honour the memory of youths, who died at the Immigration recruitment, is for us to create more jobs.

    “There is a lot of distress in the country and people are questioning whether the government has created the 1.6 million jobs it claimed to have created last year. The answer is, it has, according to the information from the National Office of Statistics. However, the problem is we have 1.8 million entrants into the job market every year. So, job creation has not caught up with the number of people entering the job market.”

    She noted that government is caught between “creating 1.6 million jobs vs. 1.8 million needed per year. So there is a 200,000 job deficit per year. In addition, we have a pool accumulated over time, of unemployed people amounting to 5.3 million and a pool of under-employed people (those working but the job is not full time) of 13.6 million. So Nigeria has a difficult unemployment challenge accumulated over the years.”

    Dr. Okonjo-Iweala said she hoped the first target of creating jobs for new entrants of 1.8 million was almost in sight, adding: “Once we reach that on a steady level, we can focus on creating more for the unemployed and under-employed pool.”

    She said the summit had given the government “the opportunity to stand true to the memories of those who died seeking Immigration jobs.”

     

    The minister urged stakeholders at the summit to keep to their pledge “to jump start the programme with at least 10,000 new house owners or mortgage beneficiaries by the end of the year. With the ratio of five direct and 2.5 indirect jobs created per house, this should enable us create at least 75,000 jobs as a start.”

    Well-functioning housing markets, she said, enabled savings, wealth creation and entrepreneurial development, “as a result, housing can address two interrelated policy priorities of poverty reduction and economic growth through enterprise development.”

    According to Dr. Okonjo-Iweala, “we need to work harder and faster to create more jobs for our youths. We are focusing on housing because this sector can increase the number of jobs in addition to growing the economy. This sector will create jobs for builders, carpenters, plumbers, managers, interior decorators… so many jobs.”

    She identified two parallel working groups mandated to analyse and deliver on the two major constraints identified as mitigating against harnessing the full potential of the sector.

    These are the Housing Finance group, chaired by the Ministry of Finance and includes partners: CBN, PMIs, World Bank, IFC, commercial banks, NAICOM, etc.; and land and land titling issues, mandated to review extant land regulations and registration processes to determine how best to ensure a more transparent and simplified access to land and C of O s.

  • NIS: Extermination, not examination

    NIS: Extermination, not examination

    In the wake of the hullabaloo that greeted the unfortunate death of more than 19 applicants at the charade recently organised by the Nigeria Immigration Service, NIS, I reached out to Evelyn Abiodun, my niece, who participated in the event at the National Stadium, Abuja. Below are extracts from her account of the tragedy:

    “Exams into Nigeria Immigration Service holds (sic) Saturday, March 15, at 7am in your preferred exam state. Come along with a comfortable fitness wear” was what we were told. Harmless message, so it seems, but with unexpected consequence.

    The day before the ‘exercise’, Friday, March 14, I set out early to get all the necessary requirements ready. The preparation included shopping in the market for a pair of white shorts and shirt, white socks and running shoes. I also went to a government-owned hospital to obtain my medical fitness pass. I had arranged all my credentials, read up some past question papers and headed to bed with my alarm set for 4am the next day.

    “At 3:50am, earlier than my set alarm time, I was up from my bed, as I couldn’t put my head to rest from revising and envisioning how the day would look like. I was ready at exactly 4:45am, waiting for the taxi I had hired to come and pick me up at 5am (which cost me more than I would have paid anyway). I took off for the venue of the exercise, National Stadium, Abuja. In my excitement, I was already wearing my sport wear in the taxi because I couldn’t afford to be late or sloppy as a result of not being properly dressed before the exercise would take off.

    “On getting to the venue, my head stopped thinking for a while. I was startled by what I saw. Thousands of people were already at the venue! What! At 5:30am? What were they all doing overnight? Watching the clock tick all night? Or they just woke up earlier than I did? I thought that was shocking, not until I waited 10 more minutes to see troops pouring in. And it wasn’t even 6am yet! Then, the reality of how the day would look like kept sinking into my head. I was beginning to panic at the sight of the crowd alone. It then dawned on me that this must be the jungle for ‘the survival of the fittest’ – although many people didn’t seem qualified to me (they were so old, I could have sworn they were my grandparents’ age-mate).

    “As the day went on, at 7am, there was no more air to breathe, even in an open space. I was suffocating many times, as well as the rest of us. Hungry and confused, (I didn’t have breakfast because I thought we were actually going to do a fitness test), I walked around, assessed people, listened to their conversations; at least, I thought, to console myself that the crowd might actually reduce, as I saw many people who didn’t meet the requirements and there could be other reasons to disqualify many. I saw a good number of pregnant women and nursing mothers. What were they doing in this kind of exercise?

    “We were tossed around like ‘zombies’ most of the time. Walking and running around, whichever direction the crowd was going, even if we didn’t hear any firsthand announcement from the officers present. Yet, there was no sign of us actually getting into the stadium and we were drying up under the sun like damp clothes, with the officers watching helplessly across the gates. We waited and kept the hope of getting into the stadium, but no sign, not even a simple address from any of the officials present. Like marooned people, we were left alone and confused for hours!

    “Sometime around 12noon, to my greatest astonishment, I saw people climbing over the gates to get in. Suddenly, we were all struggling to climb the gates together; it looked to me like it might be the only way into the stadium anyway. Men and women struggling to climb and jump over the gates; it was a jungle indeed! As I tried to squeeze myself through the squash, then I noticed they had opened a small gate on the other side. I began to change my direction towards the gate instead. But that was also not an easy way to go, as it was tightly guarded by the crowd of people trying to get through. Many sustained all kinds of injuries in the process of struggling, but I was lucky to have made it in one piece.

    “Having finally made it through the squash, what next? We were told to sit according to our qualifications – higher degree holders were to sit upstairs and the rest to sit downstairs. I made my way upstairs and noticed all the seats there were as dusty as a desert. The usual struggle was not as bad as it was downstairs. I got my seat cleaned and sat down, awaiting the next call. We’ve been seated for more than one hour now; I was thirsty, hungry and tired at the same time.

    “I later went down to get something to eat and drink. The prices of refreshment had astronomically increased! Gala (usually N50) was sold at N100; Nestle bottled water (usually N100) sold at N200; pure (sachet) water (usually N10) was sold at N50. The most ridiculous of them all, a pack of jollof (white) rice with no meat and obviously no flavour was sold at N300! Why? N10 pencil was sold at N50, for those who didn’t come with their writing materials. Some people thrived on the suffering of others and were making cool cash on the spot. So sad!

    “As we sat, we noticed ambulances going in and out. People were being rushed into ambulances. Some of them had sustained serious injuries, while some had lost their lives in the midst of it all. May their souls find rest. That was the saddest point of the day for me. We still sat there for hours; no sign of anything going on at the venue. Everybody got impatient and frustrated at the long silence and lack of empathy shown to us. I mean we were out to look for job and not to be treated like refugees.

    “In no time, the anxious crowd started doing things to keep themselves busy. Some of the applicants entertained us with performances on the tracks – parades, football matches (sachet water bags were turned into football), running competition, funny kung fu practices and so on. I was sitting up there, clapping and hailing them (out of boredom). But as I watched people perform, I came to a realization: we actually do have many wasted talents in this country. If people could be so creative and entertaining, why on earth are these talents not adequately trained and utilised?

    “About 4pm, when everyone was tired and many had lost hope (including me), the examination kicked off. As if the wasted hours were not enough insult, the examination was the biggest of them all! The question papers could barely go round (of course, the crowd was more than the number of papers they brought in); the questions comprised 30 objective mathematics questions only. There was no supervision or rules guiding the exam – you could actually discuss the answers with the next person and just anyone around you who knew the answer. In fact, you could answer your phone calls while you write. Everywhere was noisy and rowdy. In short, it was my greatest point of discouragement because it was obvious to me that the examination was just a cover-up.

    “After I had submitted my paper (only God knows what I did in there), I left for my house, looking like I just got out of a mud fight. On getting home, I didn’t even have the energy to speak with anyone as I went straight to bed. As I lay there, I thought to myself: ‘Was it really an examination or extermination?’

  • Moro, Parradang, others to face Senate Thursday

    Moro, Parradang, others to face Senate Thursday

    A Minister of Interior Abba Moro and the Comptroller-General of the Nigerian Immigration Service (NIS), Mr. David Parradang, will on Thursday appear before the Senate Committee on Interior over the death of 19 applicants during its recruitment exercise.

    The Clerk to the Committee on Interior, Isah Garba, in a statement, said the Atiku Abubakar Bagudu-led committee also summoned the representatives of the Police, Federal Civil Service Commission, Managing Director/CEO of Drexel Technical Global Services Limited, trade unions, victims and their families. and other stakeholders directly or indirectly connected to the incident.

    It will be recalled that the Senate, at its plenary, presided over by the Deputy Senate President, Ike Ekweremadu, last week mandated its Committee on Interior to probe the job tragedy and submit its report within one week.

    Senate’s outrage and resolutions on the tragedy followed a motion moved by the Chairman, Senate Committee on Interior, Senator Atiku Abubakar Bagudu (Kebbi Central) and 10 others.

    Bagudu had recalled in the motion that as far back as 2011, the office of the Head of Service of the Federation granted approval for the recruitment of a total of 4,556 personnel of various cadre for the NIS comprising Assistant Superintendent 1&2 to Immigration Assistant III.

    The lawmaker had lamented that it took the NIS about three years before acting on the approval which however ended in the unfortunate disaster.

     

    He noted in the motion that Drexel Technical Global Services assigned by the NIS to carry out the recruitment exercise, collected N1,000 from each of the 700,772 applicants that filled the recruitment form online.

     

    He insisted that the practice was contrary to the usual practice of not collecting money from any applicant by Custom Immigration and Prisons Board (CIPB), the statutory recruitment body of the nation’s paramilitary outfits.

     

    Bagudu said: “Prior to this tragic exercise, employment into the Nigerian Immigration Service is done in two usual ways.

     

    “The service has responsibility of employment of junior officers while the recruitment of senior officers is handled by the Custom Immigration and Prisons Board, making the introduction of consultants and charging of N1,000 per applicant, a completely new dimension.”

    END

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

  • Speakers condemn Immigration jobs tragedy, Boko Haram killings

    Speakers condemn Immigration jobs tragedy, Boko Haram killings

    THE Conference of Speakers of State Legislatures of Nigeria (CSSLN) has condemned last week’s deaths of 19 youths at the venue of Nigerian Immigration Service (NIS) nationwide job recruitment test.

    The Speakers also condemned the incessant killings in the North-east.

    Its Chairman, Alhaji Inuwa Garba, who spoke with reporters at the end of its quarterly meeting in Abuja at the weekend, called on the Federal Government to find lasting to the problems.

    According the Conference, the killings have depleted the nation’s socio- economic activities drastically.

    Garba, who is also Gombe State House of Assembly Speaker said: “We gathered here to hold a meeting of the conference of speakers of state legislators in order to discuss issues that have bearing on the membership of the conference itself and the nation at large.

    “It is a tradition of the conference to have meetings quarterly. Sometimes, if there is emergency we call for a meeting and discuss some certain key issues that will support the conference and appreciate democracy.

    “One of the key issues we have discussed is insecurity in Nigeria. The Conference condemns totally the killings in so many parts of this country and appreciate the security agencies and the Federal Government for taking a deliberate positive steps towards achieving and ensuring security in Nigeria and we asked them to do more so that peace and security will be in place so that socio- economic development of the country will improve.

    “Apart from that, we discussed other issues that affect democracy itself. One is the issue of unity. We believe we are all Nigerians and we believe in the unity and harmony of this country. We equally called on all the stakeholders in the Nigeria’s democracy and other areas to continue to contribute towards ensuring that Nigeria remains one indivisible united country.”

    Garba called on the government and private sector to create enabling opportunities for jobless youths in the country.

    “It is part of the killings we have condemned and we call on the Federal Government to improve the socio- economic development. All those that are running up and down for employment are supposed to be employers if the enabling environment is available. So, we call on the Federal Government and the private sector to create opportunities for the teeming populace we have in Nigeria that are jobless and ready to contribute towards the socio- economic development of the nation.

    The conference also condemned “any kind of corruption be it in the government or outside the country,”

    It said: “We call on the government to expose any person or any group involved in any corrupt practice that will create more problem to the economy of this country.”

    On the ongoing National Conference, he said: “We discussed among ourselves to advice the delegates from our states that the issue of unity is very paramount. The issue of unity of this country should not be played with or politicized. But we are looking at the outcome.”

     

  • Remove Moro, cleric tells Jonathan

    Remove Moro, cleric tells Jonathan

    THE General Overseer of Omega Power Ministries Port Harcourt Rivers State, Apostle Chibuzor Chinyere, has called for the immediate removal and prosecution of the Interior Minister, Abba Moro.

    He said the minister should be charged for accessory to the murder of Nigerian youths who died during the recruitment exercise of the Nigerian Immigration Service (NIS) across the federation.

    Chinyere accused Moro of incompetence, wondering why a simple recruitment exercise could create so much stress and deaths for job seekers.

    Chinyere, in a statement yesterday, said: “If the ministry and NIS did the needful, there wouldn’t have been so much deaths and pains for Nigerians.

    “The fact that the minister could not conduct a simple employment test shows he is incompetent and should be sent packing for immediate prosecution”.

    He appealed to the President to set up a panel of enquiry to investigate why Moro nullified the recent recruitment exercise conducted by former Controller General of the agency, Mrs. Rose Uzoma.

    The preacher also alleged that officers of the Immigration Service have been on stagnant ranks for over 15years, with the outcomes of the promotion interviews they attended in August, November and December 2013, not released.

    He described acceptance of N1, 000 online payments from each of the applicants as fraudulent and an attempt to further impoverish jobless Nigerians.

    He wondered where the agency and the minister expect jobless Nigerians to have money to apply for jobs they knew were not available.

    Chinyere condemned the entire recruitment exercise as a death trap designed to fleece the army of unemployed Nigerian youths, insisting the minister should face the music for the action.