Jonathan cancels Immigration recruitment exercise

•Offers victims’ relatives automatic jobs •To visit victims’ families next week •Raises special c’ttee to conduct fresh recruitment •Bars MDAs from conducting recruitment test President Goodluck Jonathan has directed the cancellation of the recruitment exercise conducted nationwide on Saturday by the Nigerian Immigration Service (NIS). Information Minister Labaran Maku said Jonathan gave the directive today […]

•Offers victims’ relatives automatic jobs

•To visit victims’ families next week

•Raises special c’ttee to conduct fresh recruitment

•Bars MDAs from conducting recruitment test

President Goodluck Jonathan has directed the cancellation of the recruitment exercise conducted nationwide on Saturday by the Nigerian Immigration Service (NIS).

Information Minister Labaran Maku said Jonathan gave the directive today during the Federal Executive Council (FEC) meeting whose entire proceedings, he said, was devoted to paying condolences to the families of the applicants who died during the recruitment exercise.

Maku said the council regretted the incident, commiserated with the bereaved families and sympathised with the injured.

He said Jonathan also directed that three employment slots be reserved, in the NIS, for the relatives of each of the deceased and for all the applicants who sustained injuries.

The minister said the president emphasised that one of the three beneficiaries from the deceased’s families must be a lady.

He said the president equally set up a special committee headed by the chairman of the Federal Civil Service Commission to conduct a fresh recruitment exercise into the NIS at a date to be announced later.

He said the committee also has as members, the Comptroller-General of NIS, representatives of the Inspector-General of Police, Commandant-General of the Nigerian Security and Civil Defence Corps, Director General of the State Security Service, Comptroller-General of the Nigerian Prisons Service and Corps Marshall of the Federal Road Safety Commission.

Maku, however, parried questions on why the Minister of Interior, Abba Moro, was excluded from the committee; whether the government would refund the N1,000 paid for registration by each applicant and on whether the government would raise a committee to probe the ill-fated recruitment exercise.

He said: “The Federal Executive Council meeting today devoted its entire proceedings to condolences to the families of young Nigerians that lost their lives in last Saturday’s tragic Nigerian Immigration recruitment exercise. The FEC noted with grief and deep regrets the tragic loss of young Nigerians who died in different centres across the country in the ill-fated Nigerian recruitment exercise. The FEC, in sending condolences to the families of the deceased and also in sending special wishes to those who are injured and still undergoing treatment in hospitals in parts of the country, expressed total regrets that this tragedy took place at all.

“Council members were full of grief when the issue was discussed at the FEC. We expressed our condolences to the president and vice president and we indeed reassured Nigerians that all of us who have the privilege of serving this country at this time, are feeling the pains with the families of our young ones who lost their lives. We’re parents and we know what this means to those who have had the opportunity to train their children and are waiting for the opportunity for these children to now take their places and help their families, only to lose them under these very difficult circumstances that took place on Saturday. We reaffirmed our commitment to ensuring that this kind of tragedy doesn’t repeat itself in this country. 

“The president also took certain measures which he announced to Federal Executive Council. The first is that the Immigration exercise has been completely cancelled and he has directed that a new exercise be conducted by a special committee under the chairmanship of the chairman of the Federal Civil Service Commission to conduct the recruitment exercise to fill the vacancies of the Nigerian Immigration Service. Other members of the committee, as announced by the president, are the Comptroller-General of Nigerian Immigration Service, representatives of the Inspector General of Police, Commandant-General of the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps, Comptroller-General of Prisons Service, Director General State Security Service (SSS) and the Corps Marshal of the Federal Road Safety Commission (FRSC).

“This committee will proceed to conduct the exercise to fill the vacancies in the Nigerian Immigration Service.

“The president also directed that for the families of those who lost their dear ones, three spaces be provided for three young people one of whom must be a woman, in the new recruitment exercise.
Also, all those who were injured in the cause of the exercise across the country will be given automatic recruitment into the Service”.

Speaking further, Maku disclosed that the president, as soon as he returns from his trip abroad next week, would meet the families of the deceased to express his personal condolences to them. 

He said Jonathan also instructed all ministries, departments and agencies (MDAs) of government, except the armed forces and the police, should never embark on the kind of recruitment exercise conducted by the NIS.

“The president has also directed that as soon as he returns from his trip abroad, he will meet the families of the deceased to express his personal condolences to them over the sad tragedy that took place on Saturday. He instructed all MDAs never to embark on exercise of this nature in recruiting people into the public service because what happened could have been avoided. So, Mr. President directed that no one outside the armed forces and the police that usually recruit people through exercise, that no other MDA is allowed to embark on this kind of exercise that we witnessed on Saturday”, he said.

Maku added: “All of us expressed our regrets about what happened, our hearts go out there to the families of the deceased. This nation is fully behind them, the grief is not their own, the grief is that of all Nigerians and it’s the grief of the government and the people of Nigeria. We regret it and we pray for the repose of the souls of those who have departed. The council noted that it’s regrettable that this took place at a time that every effort was being made by government to increase spaces available for employment.

“For example, last year, we were able to get 1.6 million employed in the various sectors of the economy and the public service. However, this incident that took place is so painful and we’ll not want to see in this country young job seekers losing their lives in the process of seeking jobs after school training. We assure the nation today that every step will be taken to look into the various lapses in recruitment exercises into the public service to ensure that all those who are qualified get access to employment without going through this kind of experience”.

Our correspondent reports that the FEC meeting lasted for only one hour.