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Tag: NIS

‘My ordeal at NIS test centre in Lagos’

Ogbonna Francis, one of the applicants at the last Saturday’s Nigeria Immigration Service (NIS) aptitude test, recounts his experience at the National Stadium, Lagos. Adediwura Aderibigbe reports that this incident has once again exposed the high rate of unemployment in the country.

Ogbonna Francis was one of those who attempted the charade called aptitude test last Saturday; he never envisaged a rather bitter experience in the quest to secure a job.

He escaped death but not without a fractured arm.

Francis relives his ordeal at the National Stadium Lagos: “It’s actually something I would not want to remember again especially now that I still find myself jobless after all the efforts I made towards making sure that I write the Nigeria Immigration Service (NIS) screening test.

“On the 14th of March 2014, I left my home for Surulere in my uncle’s place so as to meet up with time and beat the Lagos Traffic jam for the test slated for the following day. While in my uncles place I did all the necessary research I could trying to get all relevant information about the Nigeria Immigration Service.

“Fully prepared for the test, I left home at about 5.50 am, to my utmost surprise there was already a mammoth of applicants in their white shirts and shorts. The sight rekindled the memory of the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) days when we were always decked in white on white in orientation camp.

“The crowd was so much and the so called Immigration Officials were inactive. As a result, applicants including myself had to force our way into the stadium. There were neither chairs nor tables. No protocols; all I saw were a huge number of applicants looking at us from the gallery. A female friend had nudged me doubting if the test would hold. I had to urge her to wait to see how the event unfolds, not knowing I will be a victim.

“The gates that led to the gallery were under locks and keys so applicants had to apply some little stunts to get seated and wait for the questions to arrive. We managed to climb atop the gate. We checked on the gallery gates to see if it had been opened but no way, we had no option than to jump down which seemed more dangerous than climbing up.

“It seemed our climbing was in vain, applicants were frustrated about the mess. Yes, and that doom moment came, some scaled through while jumping others suffered minor injuries but my turn was a different ball game entirely. I tried my best to make it but I was not successful on trying to jump and I had a vicious fall, landing on my arm. I consequently suffered a dislocation. I felt unconscious for a while but thanks to my fellow unemployed colleagues they lifted me and tried to stretch my arms a little it looked serious but I tried to push on no matter the odds.

“On getting down to the main bowl of the stadium, tears rolled down my eyes with what I saw. The so called Immigration Officers were flinging question papers into the air; applicants resorted to fighting each other in order to get the question paper. The struggle became intense such that security operatives fired tear gas at us; gunshots in the air. Many applicants fainted, injuries and calamities of all sorts took happened at almost the same time — it never looked like we were there to write a test at all.

“So many thoughts were running through my mind; I was overwhelmed with regrets, with all the stress; had I known. My N1000 and all other expenses made all gone. But above all, I thank God I came back alive although I have to consult a doctor to put my bones back in order.”

The above experience could be regarded as mild in relation to what others went through. A couple in Benin, Edo State, Mr. Timothy Omuagbon and his wife Grace were not as lucky as Francis, they sustained more serious injuries at the Ben Ogbemudia Stadium venue of the aptitude test — they are being treated at the emergency ward of the University of Benin Teaching Hospital (UBTH) as reported in The Nation on March 20.

Grace suffered a broken rib and scapula during the stampede at the Samuel Ogbemudia Stadium, Benin City while her husband had bruises. It was reported that a can was provided to help her drain out blood from her broken rib and she was put on oxygen yesterday.

Grace was quoted to have said: “As we were going in, people were struggling to get in, but the door was not wide enough. I fell and was revived. Immigration officials took us to the Central hospital. I could not talk and I was coughing out blood,” she said, adding: “My husband took me to one private hospital from where I was referred here. I had broken ribs and a bone in my shoulder. We were many that Immigration officers took to the hospital. One person died.

“My husband paid the hospital bill. An iron has been fixed in my rib to enable the blood to flow. Doctors said my lungs collapsed. They should help us and give one of us a job. My husband finished from Auchi Polytechnic since 2006. I teach in a private school and earn a little salary.” The Omuagbons have three children.”

Her husband, Timothy studied Accountancy at the Federal Polytechnic, Auchi and worked at a firm before opting to drive taxi because the salary was “little” and was being delayed.

“I am 35 years old. At the stadium, the crowd was large. Only one gate was open for the thousands of people who came for the test. We were at the front. I held my wife so that we could be together. Both of us fell and many people fell on us. You can see the bruises all over my body.

“Immigration officers helped me out. My wife was still being trampled when I had to call for help. She was already gone but they poured water on her. Immigration people brought their van and took us to the hospital. They left us there. I saw my wife’s condition and I took her away.

“I have spent over N100, 000. I was doing a private job and was being paid N30, 000 but the salary was not regular. It was not helping my family, which made me to leave. I was working as a taxi driver before we heard of this recruitment. They should not allow us to die before giving us jobs. They should come to our aid. My wife is lying here at the hospital and there’s nobody to help,” he said.

Minister of Interior, Abba Moro, blew it while reacting to the incident; he have would wished he had not uttered the statement blaming the victims for their deaths.

The minister had said: “The applicants lost their lives due to impatience; they did not follow the laid down procedures spelt out to them before the exercise. Many of them jumped through the fences of affected centres and did not conduct themselves in an orderly manner to make the exercise a smooth one. This caused stampede and made the environment unsecured.”

March 22, 2014
‘Our sister died trying to rescue others’

Crest-fallen family members of one of those who died during the stampede trailing the recruitment test conducted by the Nigeria Immigration Service (NIS) are yet to come terms with the loss of their sibling.

Engr. Mohammed Yekini, an uncle to Oyiza Yusuf, a 35-year-old mother of one, who died during the fiasco said: “I am a lecturer at the Federal Polytechnic, Nassarawa State, and I was in my office when my wife told me of the incident on telephone. It took us some hours before we later got to know that she is dead.

“She is a Muslim and her death is causing us more pains. She is married with a kid. She was defrauded of N150, 000 last year for this same job but unfortunately, she did not get it. What is happening in this country is not good. Government is not good to us. It looks like the people they wanted have been employed.”

He added: “Had I known, I would not have allowed her to go for the test at all. She is the breadwinner of the family and left behind her father and mother. She was into buying and selling before she decided to write the test.”

A sister to the deceased, Mrs. Bilikisu Oyiza, who could not hold back her emotions, said: “Oyiza told me that she would be going for the interview and she went with a friend who resides in Lugbe, a suburb of Abuja. She got trapped while trying to help her friend who is an expectant mother. She is a very caring and loving sister. Her death is very unfortunate and we are yet to overcome the shock of her loss.”

March 22, 2014
NIS tragedy: Jonathan gives job slots to families of dead job seekers

*All injured job seekers to get automatic employment

Following the public outcry that trailed the death of about 19 job seekers during last Saturdays’ Nigeria Immigration Service (NIS), the Federal Executive Council (FEC) on Wednesday approved three vacancy slot for the family of each of the 19 job seekers that died during the exercise.

But one of the three slots must be a female.

The Minister of Information, Labaran Maku disclosed this to State House correspondents at the end of FEC presided over by President Good luck Jonathan.

According to him, all the injured job seekers are also to be given automatic job in the immigration service.

He said that the last Saturday recruitment exercise has been cancelled while a fresh one will be conducted under the Chairmanship of the Federal Civil Service Commission with an inter-ministerial panel.

The Government, he said, has also stopped all government agencies, apart from Army and Police, from carrying out such physical recruitment exercise.

Details later

March 19, 2014
Let this not happen again!

SIR: Regrettably job seekers in Nigeria died over the weekend trying to secure appointment with the Nigerian Immigration Service.

This did not have to happen!

Where there are high levels of unemployment it is to be expected that the demand for available vacancies will far outweigh supply of jobs, hence the large turnout for the exercise.

As long as we are unable to cater for the teeming graduates seeking work, not to talk of those who are underemployed, we would continue to have a high turnout as witnessed.

However this did not have to happen.

Technological advancement has brought about solutions to deal with large number of candidates seeking few jobs.

It was reported that over 500,000 candidates applied for the exercise.

The first step is to short list those candidate who meet the recruitment criteria which would have been pre determined by the recruiting organisation.

Apparently all the candidate were invited to attend a form of screen at various centres across Nigeria.

A short listing exercise would have been screened out those who fail to meet the criteria. Only those who meet the requirement advance to the next stage of the selection process.

There are competent organisations in Nigeria who could have offered this solution.

Each candidate can sit the initial verification exercise at the comfort of their home using their computer or at designated test centres.

Where a recruiting organisation has concerns about the authenticity of the candidate responding to the initial verification, there are also solutions available to validate the initial screening, which may

further reduce the number of applicants.

At the end of the two stage process described above, the recruiting organisation would have a manageable number and failing that, further assessment could be carried out using Assessment Centres before commencing to the interview stages.

Several private sector organisations and multinationals have successfully adopted this approach. A typical recruitment exercise by Shell Nigeria receives no less than half a million responses and they

manage the recruitment process effectively using online recruitment solutions.

It is time we take advantage of technology to manage our recruitment and avoid what I call avoidable accidents. It is not rocket science to predict the NIS exercise was an accident waiting to happen. Other government agencies need to take note to avoid a repeat of this incident.

It need not happen and we pray it does not happen again.

May the souls of the departed rest in peace.

• Shola Ajani

London

March 19, 2014
Recruitment tragedy and Nigeria’s unending mediocrity

SIR: We woke up in Lagos, Saturday March 15 just like any other day, believing we will have a peaceful day. As early morning joggers moved towards the National Stadium Surulere, they were stunned into disbelief by the sea of heads of Nigerian youths, all in white trooping to the National Stadium. It was an unbelievable sight to behold. They were later to discover that they are job seekers looking for 3,000 jobs from Nigerian Immigration Service, (NIS).

In the 33 states of Nigeria, including Abuja and excluding Borno, Yobe and Adamawa States, the applicants gathered in their millions. The applicants mostly youths, had certificates ranging from Master’s Degree, Bachelor’s Degree, HND, OND, NCE and Senior School Certificate. Each applicant paid N1000 processing fee.

The greed, inefficiency and weaknesses of NIS and their masters have brought the death of more than 20 Nigerian youths including three pregnant women and more than 100 people injured. Nigeria has gradually entered into the Guinness Book of Records for this show of shame. NIS has through the power of greed and avaricious tendencies exposed Nigeria’s unending mediocrity to the world.

Did you see the sea of heads at our Stadia throughout the 33 states and Abuja? Did you see the sufferings Nigerian leaders exposed their youths too? Did you see our youths writing without desk under the scorching heat of the sun?

Did you see the scramble to enter the venues? How many ambulances did you see out there? Were there plans for emergencies? Were the youths even given a bottle of water from the more than N6 billion naira they extorted from them? Were there provision for nursing mothers and pregnant women? Were there multiple points of ingress and egress at those venues? Was traffic situation considered?

Does this so-called recruitment exercise have anything to do with 2015 elections? Is it similar to FERMA’s recruitment of thugs and hoodlums in Lagos in the name of employment road managers? Why are PDP and President Jonathan doing all these now?

More questions: Why should NIS collect N1000 each from more than six million Nigerians when you know you have only 3,000 vacant positions? Where has the money gone to? Who authorized the collection? Where is the balance after the expenditure?

Now if this is not Nigeria, heads would have started rolling at the NIS. Arrests of the men behind this huge scam would have been completed by now. There would have been apologies from the highest seat of power. There would be apologies and regrets from the organizers and executors of this failed exercise. But this is a Nigeria where impunity is a way of life. This is Nigeria where sycophancy is a way of life

The horrible pictures of more than six million Nigerian youths seeking for 3,000 jobs have been put in the world scene. The inability of Nigerian leaders to show leadership in hours of need has been exposed to the world. The criminal level of the unemployment situation in Nigeria has been let out of the bag in a country where few leaders pocket $20 billion without caring a hoot. This tragedy has clearly exposed our system’s failure. It has clearly shown the level of the reasoning and thinking of our leaders.

This is a national shame!

• Joe Igbokwe

Lagos

March 19, 2014
Reps seek automatic employment for families of dead job seekers

The House of Representatives also yesterday resolved to investigate the death of job seekers during weekend’s recruitment by the Nigerian Immigration Service (NIS).

It mandated its committees on Labour, Public Service Matters and Justice to conduct a public hearing to determine the remote and immediate causes of the tragedy and report back within four weeks.

The lawmakers also condemned unequivocally the handling of the recruitment process and commiserated with the families of applicants who died. They empathized with those who suffered injuries.

A minute silence was observed for the dead.

The lawmakers also agreed that the Immigration Service should compensate the families of the victims with automatic employment for at least a member each.

The resolutions were sequel to the adoption of the prayers of a motion of urgent national importance by Hon. Karimi Steve Sunday (Kogi PDP).

Presenting the motion with the title: “Tragedy at 2014 Immigration recruitment exercise in Nigeria, one million Nigerian youths scramble for 4, 500 job placements,” Sunday said:

”On 15th March 2014, over one million Nigerian youths trooped into all the nation’s state capitals and other major cities to participate in the 2014 Nigerian Immigration Service recruitment exercise, for which the Service had on September 2013 advertised positions into and had obtained N1000 as Application fee from each of the applicants.

“In Lagos alone, about 70,000 Youths showed up at the Stadium for the test. In Ibadan, the Liberty Stadium played host to about 20,000 youths. In Abuja, the 60,000 capacity national stadium was overcrowded with 70,000 youths. In Ilorin, 25,000 candidates showed up like a sea of heads at the llorin Stadium.

“In Benin, at the Samuel Ogbemudia Stadium, 26,000 Nigerian youths trooped in all in a bid to write the Aptitude Test. The Sani Abacha Stadium in Kano played host to 15,800 Youths, In Benue State 17,800 Youths took part and in Port Harcourt, about 23,000 candidates enrolled for the recruitment exercise.

“Despite the crises and insecurity in the Northeast, Gombe and Borno States played host to about 5,000 Applicants each, while in Sokoto State 10,000 applicants participated in the recruitment exercise. This was the same trend in other state capitals on the said date.”

He said only about 20 per cent of the candidates were able to participate in recruitment process as a result of its poor organisation and that a night before the exercise, “an unrecorded number of Nigerians had lost their lives in motor accidents on their way to the test centres.”

According to him, “the Nigerian Immigration Service had realised approximately One Billion Naira (N 1,000,000,000.00) from the sales of recruitment forms.

The lawmaker further queried “Why could the Service not properly organise a recruitment-test or programme? Why did the Service not conduct an internet based recruitment tests? Why could the Aptitude Test not have been conducted in conducive educational centres in batches all over the nation? Why was it so poorly co-ordinated that it resulted in the death of innocent and helpless Nigerians?

He expressed concern that most Federal Government Youth Empowerment and Employment Creation programmes have not recorded much success in the past, and that the rate of unemployment in Nigeria is at a perpetual all-time high.

”Bloomberg estimates Nigeria’s unemployment at 40 per cent and its youth unemployment at 72 per cent. Nigeria colligates with economically weak nations such as Spain, Greece and Zimbabwe in its employment indices.

“The National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) states that 54 per cent of Nigerian youths is unemployed and puts Nigeria’s total unemployment at 23.9 per cent. However, the last Saturday’s Nigerian Immigration Service recruitment exercise shows that Nigeria is nowhere near a 70 per cent employment rate and therefore, National Bureau of Statistics Figures cannot be said to be reliable.”

All the members who spoke supported the motion,

They included, Bashir Babale, Nkoyo Toyo ( PDP Cross River), Abike Dabiri- Erewa ( APC Lagos) Leo Ogor ( PDP Delta), Ahmed Datti ( APC Katsina), Chris Etah (PDP Cross River), Karmil Akinlabi ( APC Oyo), Nkiruka Onyejeocha ( PDP Abia) and Ali Madaki (APC Kano).

Majority of the lawmakers questioned the motive behind the exercise, arguing that the consultants in charge of organising it must be unearthed and be punished.

Others claim the responsibility for the tragedy must be put squarely at the door of Minister for Interior. Abba Moro.

Leo Ogor, Deputy Majority Leader described the current period as “an hour of sober reflection.” He said that it was “embarrassing” that such a huge crowd could respond for a couple of thousand jobs. “We must be prepared as a people to learn a great lesson from this. The hour has come to look at devolution of powers.”

Ogor said a situation where the Federal Government controls the mineral resources of states could only increase unemployment. “The hour has come to do the needful; the solution is to look inwards. Power must be given to states and local governments to create opportunities,” he added.

Abike Dabiri- Erewa ( APC Lagos) said: “ Where is the money. The money must be refunded to all candidates. The Minister must take responsibility. Somebody must be punished for this, the money refunded and the families of the children compensated

Hon. Kamil Akinlabi ( APC Oyo) noted that MDAs were fond of flouting House resolutions. He recalled that a similar case of recruitment and exploitation has come before the House and urged the House Committee on Legislative Compliance to ensure that such resolutions are complied with.

Nkiruka Onyejeocha (PDP Abia) said the incident was a wake up call for the country. “The Minister should have resigned. If you’re going to employ 4,500 people, why sell forms for a million people? The people in authority should be held responsible,” she said.

Nkoyo Toyo ( PDP Cross River) said she hopes the 2014 budget “ which has been described as that of inclusive growth and job creation” would help sort some of the unemployment problems.

She said: “ I support the call for an investigation. We can’t continue to accept this level of unemployment.”

Jerry Alagbaso and Bush Alebiosu through amendments sought that the relatives of the victims be identified and given automatic employment. Thiswas accepted by members.

Speaker Aminu Tambuwal rendered the motion to the House committees on Labour, Public Service Matters and Justice for further action.

Also yesterday, sequel to a motion brought before it by a member, Hon. Gideon Gwani (kaura Federal Constituency), the House mandated its committee on National Security and Public Safety to investigate the attacks on villages in Kaduna State last weekend that resulted in the death of over 100 victims and report back within two weeks.

It also urged the Security agents to intensify efforts to apprehend the insurgents so as to bring them to justice. A minute silence was also held in honour of the victims.

Following another motion by Hon. Ganiu Olukolu about the boat mishap in Festac Town, Lagos that claimed 18 lives, the House urged the Federal Government to build a bridge in the area as an alternative to crossing the canal in a canoe. Another minute of silence was observed for the dead.

March 19, 2014
Reps to conduct public hearing over NIS 2014 recruitment test

The House of Representatives has mandated its committees to conduct a public hearing to determine the causes of death of some Nigerians on Saturday at recruitment centres of the Nigerian Immigration Service (NIS).

The committees are also to invite all relevant stakeholders to find out the remote and immediate causes of the stampede that took place at the centres and suggest the way forward.

The committees are those of Interior, Labour and Productivity, Public Service Matters and Justice.

The House on Tuesday in Abuja also commiserated with the families of applicants who lost their lives and also resolved that the relatives of victims be identified and offered automatic employment.

It further resolved that all mass recruitment exercises into Federal Government agencies must be done through the internet and in more conducive environment than that of Saturday.

These resolutions followed a motion by Rep. Karimi Sunday (PDP- Kogi) which was adopted when put to vote by the Speaker, Aminu Tambuwal.

The motion is entitled:” Tragedy at 2014 Immigration Recruitment Exercise in Nigeria as one million Nigerian Youths scramble for 4,500 job placements.”

Sunday, while moving the motion, said that on March 15, many Nigerian youths trooped into all the nation’s state capitals and major cities to participate in the 2014 NIS recruitment exercise.

According to him, about 70,000 youths showed up in Lagos for the test, 20,000 at Liberty Stadium, Ibadan and the 60,000 capacity National Stadium, Abuja was overcrowded with 70, 000 applicants.

“This was the same trend in other state capitals on the said date,” he said.

He said that the “poor” organisation of the exercise resulted in chaos and stampede in all the centres where several persons were reported dead and many injured.

He, therefore, urged the House to condemn the handling of the March 15 NIS recruitment test and the relevant committees of the House should investigate the matter.

In their various contributions to the motion, lawmakers agreed that the NIS incident needed to be investigated.

Rep. Nkoyo Toyo (PDP- Cross- Rivers) said that the Saturday’s incident pointed to a structural problem that could be attributed to the large population of the country.

“I am in support of the call to investigate the matter,” she said.

Reps. Chris Etta (PDP- Cross- Rivers), Razak Bello- Osagie (APC- Edo) described the recruitment tragedy as a show of “shame” and “national disaster” which they said had affected Nigeria’s prestige.

Rep. Abike Dabiri- Erewa(APC- Lagos) said that those saddled with the responsibility of conducting the recruitment must take ” full” responsibility for it.

In his contribution, Rep. Bitrus Kaze (PDP-Plateau) said that the NIS incident showed that the exercise was not properly planned.

He said that the reports in some media that immigration slots were given to members of the National Assembly were false and agreed that the Saturday incident should be investigated.

March 18, 2014
Families slam Immigration for death of loved ones

The families of the applicants, who died last Saturday during the Nigeria Immigration Service (NIS) recruitment at Elekahia Stadium in Port Harcourt, Rivers State, have slammed NIS for the death of their loved ones.

Five youths died during the exercise.

Our reporter yesterday visited three of the bereaved families. They described the deaths of their loved ones as unfortunate and a disgrace to the nation.

The families blamed Immigration for the poor conduct of the exercise.

The three victims, whose families were visited were Grace Nwokaku Amah, 28, from Ubima community in Ikwerre Local Government Area of Rivers State, Kalu Sunday Okezie, 31, from Okon-aku autonomous community in Ohafia Local Government Area of Abia State and Brown Darlington, 25, from Opobo-Nkoro Local Government, Rivers State.

The late Grace’s fiancé, Mr. Eleonu Gift, was seen weeping at the mortuary when The Nation got to Braithwaite Memorial Specialist Hospital (BMSH). He said their wedding had been scheduled for April 20.

Eleonu said they had done the traditional wedding, adding that what remained was the white wedding.

He said amid sobs: “What am I going to do now? I did not agree that she should go for the recruitment because our wedding had been fixed for April 20. So, I did not want her to be part of the exercise. God knows I love her.”

At Ogbunabali community, where the late Brown Darlington lived, one of his relations, Mr. Samuel Jaja, said he participated in the recruitment with the deceased and decried the NIS for organising a shoddy recruitment.

He said they sat on the floor at the stadium to write the examination, which was abnormal.

“The exercise was a failure. The Immigration authority was not ready for the test. I wept watching my brother suffocate. It was like a movie. It is painful.”

At Obigbo, where the late Kalu Sunday Okezie’s family live, his cousin said no amount of compensation would bring the deceased back.

He said Sunday became interested in the Immigration job because of his zeal to be useful.

He urged the government to value people’s lives.

“His death is painful. We would have buried him, but the family is making arrangement for his funeral. To be sincere, the Immigration authority didn’t put their house in order.”

Mr. Femi Tosin Odubela, the chief mortuary attendant, said one of the victims from Akwa-Ibom State had been buried.

March 18, 2014
Whence cometh the angry generation?

I first got the hint of weekend’s ill-fated immigration test when a cousin of mine called from Lokoja, the Kogi State capital to inquire if I had any information on the impending recruitment test. After telling him that I had no such information, he would call moments later not only to confirm that the test was indeed taking place but also to notify me of his receipt of the test eligibility slip. You guessed right; that was his way of duly serving the notice on the need to start tapping on my contacts in earnest – the only way round the impossible statistical odd of less than a chance in a hundred!

You can bet that by Saturday when the news of the multiple harvests of deaths and broken limbs across the test centres hit the wires, the impossible statistics was far from my mind. Rather, the only thing on my mind was whether the young man made it out of the crowded venue in one piece. The extent of the national tragedy would hit home much later when the body count hit a score. The soulless, inhuman, and utterly incompetent Nigerian Immigration Service bureaucratic machine had delivered!

Clearly, the story of unimaginable orgy of brutalisation and dehumanisation of the battalions of youths desperately in need of a job has only begun to unfold. Merely from the bits and parts – from Benin to Lagos, Minna to Kano, Port Harcourt to Makurdi, Enugu to Gombe – the revelation is about of a group of antediluvian officials being saddled with an assignment beyond their ken, individuals so terribly out of depth with elementary dictates of modern governance that leaves hanging the question of their qualifications for their high offices.

If anyone ever doubted the extent to which the NIS’ has perfected its strange methodology of substitution by elimination, one only needs to recall that the service also despatched 17 promising Nigerians to the great beyond in similar circumstances in 2008. That year, the route was via strenuous physical exercise – without the due care to inquire into the applicants’ state of the fitness.

This time around, the service simply herded thousands into closets designed to ensure that only the fittest make it alive. The result across the board was predictable: One score dead; more than three scores seriously injured.

In Minna, Niger State, for instance, 11,000 were reported to have showed up at the Women Day Secondary School venue of the exercise. The crowd of applicants were said to have lined up stretching up to some two kilometres from the test venue leaving security agents to what they do best in the circumstance: brutalise the hapless applicants. At the end of the stampede which they helped to create, three lay dead. Next door Abuja was no better: the stampede inside the 60, 000 capacity stadium where the exercise took place ensured the loss of seven precious lives.

Port Harcourt, the Rivers State capital would share the same fate. An estimated 35,000 applicants had descended on the stadium as early 7 a.m. To quell the crowd that had become restive in the scorching heat, tear gas were freely used and in the ensuing stampede, five lay dead – among whom was a pregnant woman.

Abeokuta, the Ogun State capital was a tad better; there security officials freely deployed horsewhips keep the thousands of youths gathered at the Mudashiru Lawal Stadium, Asero, Abeokuta, venue of the exercise in line. Never mind that the exercise slated for 9 a.m did not commence till around 3:30 p.m, by which time a large number of the applicants, frustrated, had already left for home.

Let us look at the statistics behind the doomed venture to appreciate why the dunderheads in the NIS should be herded to the gulag. At the conservative figure of 520,000 said to have applied for vacant slots said to be anything between 3,500 to 5,000, they ought to have appreciated why an exercise which guaranteed a less than one percent success outcome would create the kind of ugly scenario such as we saw. As it now turns out, our grave mistake was to assume that the fat, analogue heads at the NIS – although clever enough to appreciate the need to extort N1,000 from each of the applicants – ought to know a thing or two about basic management, or the notion of problem-solving – the ability to anticipate problems before they occur?

Perhaps, having gotten away with murder the last time, the hierarchs of the NIS have come to believe that they could do it as often as it pleased them without being called to account. That was why a so-called minister of the republic – Abba Moro or what’s his name would dare to pronounce a verdict of guilt on the victims for – wait for it – impatience!

I do not believe that the citizens have fully grasped the import of the criminal negligence that the NIS and its principal, the federal government, perpetrated at the weekend. Imagine a different scenario – involving say an Asian company, in which the dead was numbered in 10s. Imagine further, the company chief executive showing up on prime time television to put the blame on the victims even when the facts are only still trickling in.

And – imagine the federal government, carrying on as if nothing happened.

No doubt, the tragic events of the weekend say a lot about who we are. Taken together with other developments in the polity, it says a lot about our regression into the jungle where life is not just brutish but short.

Let me say that the outpouring of outrage is understandable. Perhaps, it is the kind of therapy citizens need to assuage their collective guilt in the face of their failure to galvanise collective action to demand the kind of change that they want. Good as outrage is, the point is that they are never nearly sufficient. I have seen too many Nigerian youths put up with just about anything in the misguided believe that they would chance upon some future fortune. I have seen innumerable others take solace in false dogma which demand unreason while outsourcing personal responsibility .

I don’t think Nigerian youths, mighty as the army has become, are nearly as angry as they should be.

March 18, 2014
Mark’s wife denies role in recruitment

Senate President David Mark’s wife, Helen Onma, yesterday described as a “wicked lie”, an allegation, which linked her with the consultants, who organised the recruitment by the Nigeria Immigration Service (NIS) last Saturday.

Nineteen applicants, including three expectant women, reportedly died in the cities where the recruitment was held. Scores were injured.

Mrs. Mark, who decried the report, according to a statement by the Media Adviser to the Senate President, Kola Ologbondiyan, in Abuja, said the rumour was the figment of the imagination of those behind it.

The statement reads: “It is strange to me because I do not know the consultant, who organised the recruitment, neither did I play any role in the exercise.

“I have no relationship with the consultants.

“This moment demands solemnity and mourning of the precious souls lost in the tragic incidents.

“It is not a time to settle political scores. I will leave those dragging my name into this painful death of our youths to their consciences and unto God.

“As a mother, I sympathise with the parents of these youths as well as the nation over the loss of our children.”

March 18, 2014