Probe of immigration job tragedy

THAT it took the removal of erstwhile Comptroller-General of the Nigeria Immigration Service (NIS), David Parradang from office before the 2014 immigration job recruitment tragedy is investigated is a sad statement on accountability in Nigeria and how little value is attached to human life in this country.

Otherwise, there is no reason a tragedy of that magnitude that claimed scores of lives, incapacitated many youngsters and threw families into perpetual anguish should be swept under the carpet for so long.

Lack of accountability or failure to take responsibility which is at the root of impunity in the country must end and it is high time public office holders were made to bear the consequences of their actions or inactions. That is the only way many ills in the society would be corrected.

The story began on an innocuous note. The NIS was to recruit some personnel and about 6.5 million job seekers applied for the 5,000 spaces while a private recruiting firm was contracted to conduct the test.

On March 16, 2014, millions of these desperate applicants were assembled in different stadiums across the country for a test. The process was, of course, rowdy and chaotic, a situation that led to a stampede in which 23 applicants died while scores were seriously injured. This stampede occurred in Abuja, Port Harcourt, Minna, Gombe and Benin, among other centres.

In Port Harcourt, a pregnant woman was among the dead. In Minna, security agencies fired tear gas at the applicants. In Osun, Lagos, Gombe, Oyo and Plateau states, thousands of applicants fainted from exhaustion. This tragedy, especially the casualty figure, provoked national outrage and there were calls for the sack and prosecution of Abba Moro, the erstwhile Minister of Interior but the man, in the most egregious show of irresponsibility, stayed put while the then President Goodluck Jonathan also did not fire him.

A blame game indeed ensued between the NIS and the ministry over who should bear responsibility for the tragedy. While Moro blamed Parradang, the latter and his loyalists blamed Moro and his alleged business partners, saying the service which he led had no hand in the recruitment exercise.

Moro later accepted responsibility for the tragedy but blamed the victims for being unruly, impatient and unwilling to follow instructions. A probe was anticipated. But former President Goodluck Jonathan merely commiserated with the victims’ families and promised automatic employment in the NIS for some members of each bereaved family.

Meanwhile, it came to public notice that each of the applicants was forced to pay N1000 for the job, a revelation which made then President Jonathan direct the ministry to make refund. About N650 million was allegedly collected.

The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), however, has stepped into the matter, apparently on the orders of the new government. Parradang, now retired, was invited to explain the circumstances surrounding the fees charged, the law backing it, the account where the money was paid into, what the cash was used for and the balance.
Undoubtedly, the immigration job tragedy was a big scandal. It is a tragedy that shook the entire nation but was given shoddy treatment.

The probe is coming more than a year and half after the incident occurred and barely three weeks after Parradang was booted from office for recruiting 1,600 personnel into the service without approval. There is no mention of Moro yet in the investigation. But both men should be made to account for the incident.

Why is it that public officials in Nigeria are averse to taking responsibility? At about the same time this tragedy occurred in Nigeria and nobody cared, the South Korean Prime Minister, Chung Hong-won, resigned after a ferry mishap claimed the lives of so many school children. That was a symbolic gesture to show that he took responsibility for the disaster. A dangerous culture of impunity, of course, blinds public officials in Nigeria to reason with a consequent moral depravity and consciencelessness. But, for how long would this continue?

The immigration tragedy was not the first of such incidents. In November 2010, a job recruitment exercise by the Federal Road Safety Commission (FRSC) turned fatal as 15 applicants slumped and died in the course of undergoing strenuous physical exercise ordered by the Commission. Nobody was made to account for the death of the innocent youngsters.

Perhaps, this is the time to bring all the culprits to book. In the immigration case, Parradang has said that he was not involved in the recruitment. The accusing fingers point to Moro. Whosoever was responsible should be brought to book. The youngsters who died are the future of this nation and their death should not be in vain.