Immigration stampede: Minister apologizes to Nigerians
The Minister of Interior, Comrade Abba Moro has apologized to Nigerians for organising a failed recruitment exercise in which at least, 16 applicants lost their lives on 15th March 2014. The Minister who spoke with journalists at the weekend in Abuja expressed regret over the loss of lives of job seekers at some centres […]
The Minister of Interior, Comrade Abba Moro has apologized to Nigerians for organising a failed recruitment exercise in which at least, 16 applicants lost their lives on 15th March 2014.The Minister who spoke with journalists at the weekend in Abuja expressed regret over the loss of lives of job seekers at some centres of the recruitment exercise.
He said: “I want to say that the death of these Nigerians who would have added to the human resources asset of this country, is highly regrettable. And for the families, I insist that my heart goes out for them. I’m a father and I know what it feels to lose a child. If I have the capacity to turn the clock back, I would do it and these children could be alive today.”
“For me, it’s a personal lost because the exercise in the first place , took place within the Ministry of Interior, organised by the Ministry and its Services. So, whatever consequences that have come, and in this instance, negative, certainly, me as the Minister takes full responsibility,” Moro added.
He insisted that the motive behind the exercise was to have an open, transparent recruitment exercise that is the first of its kind in the Services of the Ministry of Interior, intended primarily to give employment to Nigerians irrespective of their background, connections and contacts in the government or in the business circle.
“(It was) an exercise that was coming from the background of the Services in the Ministry of Interior being accused of job racketeering, money for jobs. Instances of where people have been charged an upward of N500,000 and upward for a slot of job (were abound).”
The embattled Minister maintained that the Ministry followed due process in staging the recruitment exercise contrary to insinuations from some quarters.
“I can say here without any fear of contradiction that I took due cognizance of the provisions of the legal framework of this country. We did as much as we could possibly do to follow all due process in the procurement of the mechanism for this exercise. If for any reason, something went wrong in some centres in the last lap of the exercise, I think we should be able to own up to it.”
Moro however posited that resigning from his post would not solve the problem at hand, adding that he would rather remain to help put things back on track.
“I believe that my presence would certainly assist in unraveling the circumstances that have led to the death of these Nigerians and to proffer solutions for it not to happen again.”
It would be recalled that some activists have been calling for the sack and prosecution of the Minister for superintending over a failed recruitment exercise that saw some applicants lost their lives while many sustained various degree of injuries in some centres all over the country.