THE conduct of last Saturday’s recruitment exercise by the Nigeria Immigration Service,NIS, has passed a vote of no confidence on the Ministry of Interior and the NIS.  CHARLES KUMOLU, who witnessed the exercise in Lagos,  writes.

IT was an incident no one could have ignored. Not when you consider the shocking tragic reality of it all. And that is why Nigerians are presently mourning  the avoidable waste of lives and angry at the same time over  the human error(some say greed) that gave rise to it. It is such  that the song on the lips of many across the country, is now  that of sorrow.  Hence, nobody seems to be in a hurry to forget March 15, 2014.

The tragedy of that Saturday which  ranks among  the most saddening in Nigeria’s recent history, is better understood through the story of Mrs. Grace Agbonovare.

NIGERIA, Abuja : Job-seekers applying for work at the Nigerian immigration department scramble as their exam papers fly in the air, on the pitch of Abuja National Stadium, on March 15, 2014. AFP PHOTO

In the early hours of that day, the mother of one, who resides in Festac Town, set out for the National Stadium Lagos.

Her aim was primarily  to participate in the Nigerian Immigration Service ,NIS, recruitment exercise. In her bag were  school certificates, a pencil, pen, eraser, white shirt and shorts.

Intimidating crowd

Having waited for over six months for the exams she was definitely in high spirits that morning. Not even the intimidating crowd that she saw upon arrival at the venue in Surulere, could give an inkling of what awaited her. To the unemployed mother, all that mattered then was writing the exams and wait for any miracle afterwards.

‘’Sir, I have waited for so long for this day and this crowd will not dampen my spirit, we must see it to the end. We were told the exercise will start at 10 am,’’ she casually told this reporter, who was at the venue with a close relative. With the sights and sounds of the environment, appearing as if there was a football match between Nigeria and a top soccer nation, Grace and her friends roamed about the stadium and its environs.

A few hours later, the rowdy situation gave way to a chaotic atmosphere, as the job seekers’ cheerful mood began to slide into agitation. At exactly 3 pm, pandemonium broke out following the inability of the organisers to coordinate the mammoth crowd and commence the exams. At this point, Grace and others who were inside the stadium found their way outside.

Narrating her ordeal to this writer, who was seated at one of the eateries close to the venue, she said the security agencies fired warning shots, tear gas and used horsewhips to control  the crowd. ‘’While we were inside, people were writing their names and I did so. Despite doing that, the whole process looked uncoordinated. Nobody was talking to us and we were not told what to do. At a point, we saw some people struggling with some immigration officials. In the midst of that confusion, the officers started firing guns and tear gas. We had to run for our lives, ‘’ she stated.

Still lamenting, Grace who was panting as she spoke, said: ‘’I did not write the exams and they will come out tomorrow to claim that some people sat for the exams in Lagos. Nothing of such happened. Though some claimed to have written but as far as I am concerned what happened inside that stadium was programmed to be like that by the immigration authorities.

“It is painful that we are going through this after paying application fees. This is callous. The Immigration officers were even telling us to go home.’ They can hold on to their job, I am done with them”.

Her ordeal is one out of the many controversies that trailed the exercise nationwide. About 5pm, some of the applicants were already heading home, while others waited in anticipation of writing the exams that never took place. As a result of the huge turnout, vehicular movement on many streets in Surulere was impeded, following the gridlock that followed. Further findings by VanguardFeatures,VF, showed that there were neither sufficient security nor crisis control plans  in place for such an intimidating turnout.

Against the backdrop of the sham that the exercise turned out to be across the country, many have not stopped asking among other questions: why the exercise was conducted  in one day and  the rationale behind inviting all who applied. While the answers  are being awaited, it was gathered that the Ministry of Interior and the NIS were not on same page on some issues relating to the recruitment before that day.

A source close to the Ministry told  VF the leadership of the Ministry took about one thousand slots of the 4,556 vacancies spaces advertised. This situation, the source added, did not go down well with the top echelon of the NIS, leading to the shambolic manner the exercise was conducted across the country. Regardless of this, the leadership of the NIS is not also being spared as some have described the failure of the exercise  as an indication of leadership ineptitude on its part. That is why there is a general consensus for the sack of the Minister of Interior, Comrade Abba Moro and the Comptroller General of Immigration, Mr. David Paradang.

In addition, the reported deaths of no fewer than 20 applicants across various recruitment centres, is among the various reasons for the calls.

Already some eminent Nigerians have joined the calls for the heads of the duo.

This was contained in a petition signed by Chidi Odinkalu, Chairman of the Nigerian Human Rights Commission; Nasir El-Rufai, former Minister of the Federal Capital Territory; Ayo Obe, lawyer and human rights activist; Bashir Tofa, former presidential candidate of the defunct National Republican Convention; Aliyu Modibbo, a former Minister of the Federal Capital Territory and 57 others.