NIS recruitment: Employment promise breeds fresh troubles

• Victims besiege hospitals, NIS, ministry to get listed injured persons
• 140 handsets recovered in Abuja

When afrobeat legend, Fela, was here, he sang that: “to settle wahala, na to start wahala again.” That was his phrase to describe coups and counter coups in the country then.

That is what the hospitals that treated  victims of the stampede at the Abuja Stadium on March 15 at the Immigration recruitment are facing after the Federal Government announced automatic employment for dead victims’ family members and injured victims.

If possible, some families might invent claims that they lost someone to get the jobs even as many that attended the recruitment have commenced fierce lobby of the hospitals’ workers to include them in the list of the wounded.

The hospitals are not alone in this trouble as Immigration Service sources and the Ministry of Interior admitted that they have been so much pestered by people begging and pressing to be included in the list of the injured so they can get the promised jobs.

They agencies admitted to Abuja Metro that they are having trouble compiling the list of the injured for the promised employment as a result of the pressure that some even offered to pay off the injured persons and get listed.

Escaping death’s embrace

To Adams Shuaibu, a survivor that lost all his personal effects including the originals of his credentials, handsets, the most important thing is to start life afresh.

Narrating his story, he quipped: “I lost everything during the stampede in Abuja, including the originals of my credentials, but the good thing is that I am lucky and happy not to have lost my life.

“I have to let go those personal effects to protect my life and my happiness is that I have a second chance to start all over again. My consolation should be that those that died did not have this second chance of starting life afresh. Honestly, I won’t forget that traumatic and harrowing experience in a hurry,” he noted.

The experience of Jenifer Ochanya, from Benue State who escaped death by the whiskers, was even more pathetic. Standing uncomfortably in the scorching Abuja sun and burning heat barefooted, she pleaded with every passer-by to help her with any footwear having lost the bag containing her personal effects.

Jennifer said: “I was just standing at the entrance when the crowd surged and pulled me down. Many people started walking on me until it became impossible for me to breathe. When somebody helped me to my feet, I could not see the bag containing my personal effects – footwear, money, original of my credentials and other items.”

“Far in front, I saw a lady carrying my bag maybe to safeguard it, but I could not reach her because of the surging crowd. I am happy to be alive but I am angry about the loss because I am stranded.

“Irrespective of what happened, I have no regret participating in the recruitment because I believe that every disappointment is a blessing. I don’t mind repeating if I am invited again because I need the job,” she swore.

Close to three weeks after the incident, the hostile reactions from angry Nigerians still indicative the level of condemnation of the death of the 19 jobless graduates.

Not even the announcement by the federal government to give automatic employment to the survivors and families of the bereaved could placate angry Nigerians that want people punished for the misjudgement that led to the ill-fated recruitment.

In search of the facts behind the scene over the tragic incidence, many of the involved persons

spoke in anger over the role they played during and after the incident. From the hospital authorities, to the Immigration and the Ministry of Interior, it is a harvest of facts behind the scene.

Hospital under pressure

The National Hospital Abuja where most of the victims were treated has become a Mecca of sort since the 78 dead and surviving victims were rushed to the hospital for treatment.

Painting a true picture of what the battle the medical personnel fought to save the survivors brought to the hospital that fateful day, the Head, Management Information Services, Dr. Tayo Haastrup, confirmed that 71 survivors and seven dead victims were brought to the hospital.

He admitted that the hospital has been under intense pressure from applicants lobbying for inclusion in the list. “I know the victims were brought here because of the proximity of the hospital to the stadium, the scene of the recruitment tragedy.

“They brought about 71 patients to this hospital. They were so many that we had to move some of them to Asokoro and Wuse General Hospitals. We stabilised and treated others and at the end of the day, we had about 31 admitted, but some with minor injuries were discharged and as at today, we have only one patient still on admission.

“Unfortunately, seven bodies were brought dead to the hospital and, the relatives have claimed the corpses. But the recent problem is the pressure we have gone through since the federal government’s announcement of employment for the survivors of the stampede and relatives of the dead victims.

“Many have come to us to plead for inclusion of their names in the list. But we have to tell them that there is nothing we can do other than to direct them to the Immigration office.

“You can’t believe that some people disguised, feigned injured, bandaging their legs and hands to make the list. God will help us in this country. So, to checkmate the pressure from people trying to fake involvement in the stampede, we had to release the list last Saturday.

“The good thing is that none of the patients brought to the hospital died. Let me also add that even before the federal government announcement, we had a case of one or two families laying claims to the corpse. But we had to process the release of the corpses through the police to the real owners.

“The pressure has gradually reduced because we stood our grounds and refused to go into any fraudulent list compilation. We ensured that we forwarded to the federal government the authentic list of the victims that reported to the hospital that Saturday.

“We have also taken the detail data of the families of the seven copses that came to claim them. We resisted every attempt for anybody to smuggle any name into the list just to get employment through the list,” he lamented.

On the response of the Interior Ministry, the image maker of the hospital replied that: “The Minister of Interior came here a day after the incident and promised to offset the bills of the survivors. We have already compiled our list and bill and sent to him. We didn’t collect a dime from any patient before and after treatment.”

Immigration authorities

The world of the Nigeria Immigration Service seems to have come to a halt since the unfortunate incident, as the paramilitary agency has continued to fight to wriggle itself out of condemnation from different quarters.

A top immigration officer that spoke to us urged angry Nigerians to vent their rage on the Ministry of Interior and the contractor for the shoddy planning that resulted in the dreadful incident.

Equally confirming that the service has fought to curtail the pressure from the applicants seeking one form of assistance or the other, he revealed that many of them have been coming to the headquarters to collect their personal effects and request inclusion in the employment list.

“I can confirm to you that some applicants have been coming with evidence to make claims that they were injured during the exercise to ensure we capture their names in the list of those federal government promised automatic employment.”

“For now, I cannot confirm to you the exact number of the applicants coming to make such claims because we have not collated the figures from all the departments. We directed most of them to the Human Resources Directorate. I also want to confirm to you that some of them have come to collect their personal effects like the original credentials and handsets which maybe roughly 140,” he confirmed.

Exonerating the service from the March 15 tragedy, the source argued: “I want to however let Nigerians know that the issue of toll collection did not begin with this illegal, immoral and unethical one from the Nigerians youths. Recall that several attempts were made to swindle oil companies in Nigeria with the expatriate employment, way back in the last quarter of 2012.”

“The head of the Interior ministry through a private recruitment company had directed all the expatriates companies in Nigeria to pay the sum of N50,000 into a particular bank account. Advertorials were published in the media and the name of the bank mentioned.

“They gave the reason for the collection of such amount on opening a portal in the website of the Interior Ministry in addition to other flimsy reasons. When some of the companies refused and made representations at certain quarters in government, it was discovered that the federal executive council did not know about it. The president had to order the stoppage of the programme, yet no money was refunded.

“It is wrong for Nigerians to hold Immigration responsible for the ill-fated recruitment exercise because I can confidence say that nobody mobilised the immigration staff drafted for the exercise. The minister sidelined both the immigration and members of the board.

“I want to put it on record that a deputy Controller involved in the stampede was just revived from coma more than one week after. Many others sustained spinal cord injuries. There are scores of officers still lying critically ill as a result of the recruitment exercise. Nobody is sensitive with the plight of the immigration officers. We lost 37 officers to Boko Haram insurgence as part of the joint JTF in Borno State,” our source lamented.

Asked the viability of offering an automatic employment to the survivors and relatives of the dead victims, the Immigration top shot argued that it was more or less a measure to pacify angry Nigerians, expressing doubt that the directive would encounter many logistic hurdles.

His words: “Mr. President in his wisdom and after due consultation during that FEC meeting, did something to show Nigerians especially the bereaved that government is sensitive to their plight. He just wants to placate the mourners and the survivors.

“Yes, a committee has been constituted but they have not been commissioned. The committee will get clearer terms of reference during inauguration. I want to believe that technocrats are still looking into the possibility of the presidential directive.

“However, don’t forget that the Nigeria Immigration Service (NIS) is not a Boys Scout or Girls Brigade. It is a uniform paramilitary organisation under arm. We don’t just recruit anybody because the work we do involves a very sensitive approach,” he argued.

Interior Minister

If any stakeholder has received the heaviest heat of the recruitment tragedy, it is the Minister of Interior, Comrade Patrick Abba Moro.  He has fought the battle of his life with everything he had if only to save his name. The answer to the level of his involvement how he has battled to pick the pieces of his life were provided by the Special Assistant (SA) Media to the minister, George Udoh. That was before the final onslaught where he faced the senate probing the incident.

Defending his boss, Udoh said: “What the minister did was a concentration reach and if every other minister can do what Abba Moro wants to do, I know we would have been able to provide employment to many Nigerians. He actually wanted the best for the Immigration service recruitment.

“He wanted to avert the trend of sitting ministers employing persons from their states or associates. He wanted every Nigerian to have equal opportunity to get the job irrespective of state of origin.

“He wanted to get the best hands for the Immigration Service by creating the atmosphere where every Nigerian should be privileged to get employment into the immigration instead of selected few from a particular area, family of particular background. He wanted to enthrone transparency, and credibility in the recruitment,” he said.

On the thunderous call for his sack, the SA quipped:  “The call for his sack is uncalled for because he had good intentions. It is unfortunate that people said he ought to toe the path of honour by resigning. I think they are not being fair to him without allowing him the opportunity to be heard.”