Interior Minister Accepts Blames for NIS Recruitment Tragedy

 

The Minister of Interior, Comrade Abba Moro, has expressed grief at the loss of lives during the Nigeria Immigration Service (NIS) recruitment exercise and accepted full responsibility for the outcome. Comrade Moro made the remarks as he appeared before the Atiku-Bagudu led Senate Committee probing the tragic incidents.

Close to 20 young Nigerians lost their lives on Saturday the 15th of March 2014 during a shoddy recruitment exercise into the Nigeria Immigration Service.

The Interior Minister said a consultant was hired to carry out the recruitment exercise which eventually turned pear shaped, because his Ministry was hell bent on avoiding the job racketeering accusations of past recruitment exercises conducted by the NIS. He expressed his condolences to the bereaved families in these words:

“Mr. Chairman and distinguished senators, we are deeply grieved and saddened by the way events turned out. We express our sincere regrets once again. However, permit me to state that our patriotic desire was the pursuit of a more honest, a more transparent, a more cost effective, a more efficient and equitable platform. We sincerely made appropriate and adequate preparations for a hitch -free exercise, but as most things in administrative and human conditions, the yield curve of expected outcome is mostly undefined”, Comrade Abba Moro said.

The Interior Minister however said the NIS board and the Ministry were not involved in the collection of the N1, 000 fee from the over five hundred thousand applicants who showed up at the different stadia across Nigeria and reiterated his well worn line that the tragedy could have been avoided if those who made the shortlist were the only ones who turned up at the various centers. But he did say the buck stopped at his desk.

“My heart goes out to the families of those who have lost their dear loved ones. I sincerely sympathize with those injured. I share in their grief. I share in their pains. May I, at this juncture, assure you, distinguished senators and Nigerians, of my respect for the sanctity of human life.

“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 here”, Comrade Moro admitted.

The Comptroller General of the Nigeria Immigration Service, Mr. David Paraddang, also told the Senate Committee that he was not carried along before the exercise. Exonerating himself he said, “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 cadre 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 immediately placed a call to the Permanent Secretary too whether there was any decision of the Board to place an advert in the paper.

“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 into the Service, but they all answered in the negative.

“I immediately wrote a letter to the then Secretary in which I expressed my dismay that as a stakeholder, as the Head of a Service that is supposed to recruit, I was not aware of this exercise. He pleaded with me that I should understand with him that he was under immense pressure to put that advert up.

“He 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 Nigerian Immigration Service. So I wrote him a letter that I was not given any benefit of a reply….”

The Immigration Boss said he had suggested a staggering of the exercise and had objected the use of a consultancy firm (Drexel) in carrying out the exercise, but those suggestions fell on deaf ears.

“Along the line, the Committee of the Board met, we discussed this issue of Drexel being the service provider. I said look, I am not in support of anybody collecting money for recruitment…

“I remember suggesting 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 in one of the committee rooms here, we were all seated here and we got to know that we will be conducting recruitment exams 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 uniform organization, you follow the last order. Initially when people asked me when is Immigration recruitment, I used to tell them that I don’t know but subsequently anybody that asked me I will reply that the Minister has declared categorically that we will recruit on the 15th of March and that is what we are going to stick to”, Paraddang said, putting the blame on the Interior Minister.

The Comptroller General of Immigration reiterated that contrary to widespread reports, the death toll on the day stood at 16 and not 20.

NIS Recruitment Tragedy: Minister of Interior's Family Apologize to Nigerians

NIS Recruitment Tragedy: Minister of Interior’s Family Apologize to Nigerians

The family of Nigeria’s interior Minister, Abba Moro, has issued a passionate defense of its son, who is facing intense public fury over a deadly recruitment by the Nigeria Immigration Service, in which about 19 job applicants died.

A family spokesperson appealed for patience to allow investigations, but did not comment on calls for Comrade Abba Moro to step down.

More than 520,000 job seekers turned up for the screening at 37 centers across Nigeria, leading to stampedes a week ago. All the applicants were charged N1, 000 each to register for the examinations.

In Abuja, seven applicants were reported dead while many more were injured.

Outraged Nigerians blame the Minister and the head of Immigration, David Parradang, for the bloody screening, and have called for their sack.

The anger grew after Comrade Abba Moro blamed the victims for their deaths, accusing them of being “impatient”. He said a consultant firm handled the process and ruled out refunds of the more than half a billion naira collected from the poor applicants.

President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan has yet ignored calls to fire the Minister and the Immigrations boss. The Federal Government announced jobs for three members from each of the deceased’s family.

In a statement Sunday, a spokesperson for Comrade Abba Moro’s family said it was clear “that no words, no matter how solemn, coming from the family will be enough to atone” for the losses.

The family said the Minister had done well in his previous assignments and would not deliberately orchestrate a process that would lead to deaths.

“We are worried that this singular incidence, though unintended appears to be overwhelming the numerous positive achievements our son has recorded in the ministry since his assumption of duty as Minister,” the statement said.

Mr. Moro’s family said the consultant drafted for the exercise did not give the true picture of events leading to the stampedes.

Read the full statement below:

IMMIGRATION TRAGEDY: PRESS STATEMENT & POSITION OF ABBA MORO’s FAMILY

The family of the Honourable Minister of Interior has watched the events that followed the stampede occasioned by the recent screening exercise into the NIS which led to the death of about 19 applicants across the federation and hereby makes the following comments:

1. That we strongly share this moment of grief and pains with the immediate families of all those who lost their lives during the ill-fated recruitment exercise and beg Almighty God to comfort all parents, brothers, uncles and siblings of the deceased applicants while asking Him to give them eternal test in His bossom
2. That the Honourable Minister has gone down in history as one of the best local government chairmen Benue state in particular and the country in general has had, having served as ALGON chairman in Benue and having received numerous awards as best serving local government chairman in the federation in the past.
3. That the Honourable Minister has over time, been known as a man of integrity, honesty, dedication to duty, thoroughness, commitment and we are still at a loss as to what probably may have gone wrong with this exercise.
4. That we urge all Nigerians to please exercise patience to enable the investigation panel come out with findings as to what really went wrong, the findings will be useful to us as country to avert reoccurrence in future.
5. We know that no words, no matter how solemn, coming from the family will be enough to atone for these losses suffered by the immediate families of the deceased applicants but will still beg for the understanding of Nigerians to enable the ministry carry out proper investigation into this tragedy and tell Nigerians what really went wrong.
6. We do not want to be in a hurry to indict the consultancy firm that handled the exercise in order not to preempt the investigative panel already in place but will at the interim condemns the shoddy and clumsy fashion with which the exercise was conducted.
7. That if the consultancy firm had done its job properly, it would have carried proper online screening of the applicants with the aim to prune down the size that would be invited for the screening exercise having in mind the existing vacancies.
8. That as the Head of the ministry, the task of overseeing the conduct of the exercise rested strictly with the Minister through the CG of NIS, what happened at the field did not reflect the numerous assurances received by the Honourable Minister from the consultants that all was going on smoothly.
9. We thank the Federal Government for coming up with some form of palliatives ranging from employment opportunities for immediate family members of deceased people as well as automatic employment for all injured applicants across the federation even though we are aware that that cannot bring back to life, all those who died in the tragedy.
10. That the Honourable Minister is a member of the family and known seriously for his respect for sanctity of lives of people and cannot in anyway, celebrate the death of any human being as being insinuated in some quarters, but will however show respect for the opinions of individuals who have painted him in different light other than what we know about him.
11. We are worried that this singular incidence, though unintended appears to be overwhelming the numerous positive achievements our son has recorded in the ministry since his assumption of duty as Minister.
12. Once again we plead for the understanding of all those who lost their dear ones in this incidence to show understanding as God knows better what has happened; our heart, as a family is with you and we strongly believe that God Almighty will comfort you during this period of grief, we are with you in prayers now and always. God bless Nigeria.

 Signed:

Major Agbo (Abba Moro’s Nephew) for the Family.