NIGERIA IMMIGRATION SERVICE (N I S) RECRUITMENT TRAGEDY : A NEEDLESS NATIONAL EMBARRASSMENT : BY ADEBAYO TEMITOPE . . It is quite a unique privilege and such a great opportunity for me to be able to venture into this piece of writing particularly with regard to the above subject matter. Indeed,it is a belated news that approximately 19 people lost their precious lifes in the ill conceived march 15th 2014 N I S recruitment, thus resulting into a complete huge exercise in futility. Although, I am not a self acclaimed seer neither do I have the endowed gift of clairvoyancy to have been able to see through the crystal ball and therefore made a perfect prediction in the process that the whole N I S recruitment exercise would eventually ended up a monumental shambles. But to be quite candid, I had the inkling that right from its genesis the purported recruitment exercise was absolutely faulty. Quite commonsensically, without being abysmally sarcastic, it is lucidly clear that every thing is morally wrong about requesting prospective job seeking applicant(s) to part with some amount of money in a recruitment process of a job which it employment is not even guarranteed in the first instance. Worst case scenario, to add salt to injury, this paid money is non refundable even if such applicant(s) could not eventually secure the advertised job. A cusory view of the 2003 Nigeria Labour Law which is currently in force shows that there is no any provision there in what so ever where it is being expressly stipulated that potential employer be it a private or gorvernment establishment is hereby empowered by the virtue of this act to charge a certain amount of money as a processing fee in the course of carrying out a recruitment exercise. Therefore, that some private organization and certain government institution are doing so as it were, is outrightly illegal. . Emphatically,it is therefore worthwhile to note that requesting for money as a prerequisite for employment is inimically dangerouse which invariably can portend grave doom for such an establishment. Pointedly, the conseqencies of paying to secure an employment is too weighty to be ignored as this can inadventently undermine the primordial essence behind the philosophy of the whole recruitment exercise in the first instance. In point of fact, a money generating recriutment venture will invariably end up in a shoddy exercise as every ; Tom ; Dick and Harry that has money will be able to secure juicy appointments irrespective of their level of employability and job competency. While those that are aptly proficient and sufficiently qualified for the job will continue to languish in the vast unemployment market simply because they do not have the wherewithal to buy themselves good jobs compare to their counterparts who are fortunate enough to have come from an afflence family. Quite pathetically, the implication of this pecuniary job racketeering for a company or a country is gigantically enormous and monumentally overwhelming to be ignored. Apparently, apart from the incontrovertible fact that this illegitimate practice will invariably result in putting the round peg in a sqare hole. Worst still, stark charlatans will equally end up being massively employed to do the job(s) which they are apparently not cognately proficient at in the first place. Thus, this will be counterproductive as it will consequently result into an unimaginable economic loss. . Contretemptly, it is so unfortunate that abount 19 people died while several other scores of people sustain various degree of life threatning injuries during this botch N I S recruitment exercise. The most painful aspect of this sham is that the majority of the victim of this ill fated exercise are predominantly graduates (inclusive are 4 pregnant women) who had hitherto struggled through thick and thin to acquire formal education up to the university level. Sadly enough, only to suddenly in a sheepishly manner lost their precious lifes in this unpalatable circumstance. Most especially, at a point of their prime life when they are expected to secure a good employment and start to enjoy the fruit of their labour thereby supporting their family in the process, this is rather pathetically worrisome. As I have earlier reiterated, from the word go, I had the prescient that something of this quite similar cataclysm will eventually happen if the N I S recruitment exercise was not properly organized and well managed. Of course, my limitation as a mere mortal being was that I did not know the magnitude and the shape this impending tragedy will take when it will eventually happen. . Indeed,I could vividly reminiscent with deep nostalgia when this same tragic situation was equally experienced about five years ago during the Nigeria custom service (N C S) recruitment excercise. Put succintly, the N C S recruitment exercice in this particular case was a perfect dejavour of the N I S ridiculous show of shame recruitment exercise. Summarily, about 7 innoscent job seeking Nigerian graduates equally died prematurely in a related orgy version. Unforturnately, people at the helm of affairs do not learn lessons from the previous mistakes. The fact that all the 520,000 applicants that applied for the N I S jobs were all simultaneously invited through out the federation for the job aptitude test sufficiently proved beyond the reasonable doubt that the N I S top officers were not articulate at all, and therefore got it all wrong on a big time level. Given that the N1000 naira processing fee collected from each of the applicant translates to a whopping N520,000,000 million naira which is apparently enough to appropriately plan and effectively carry out a successfull exercise. However, it appears that the high ranking officers of N I S have different agenda for this huge sum of money illegitimately generated from this so called cash cow recruitment business. If not, why cant they sincerely channelled the resources towards achieving a seemless and hitch free recruitment exercise especially considering the fact that, that was what the hefty amount was actually meant for in the first instance. Therefore, if eventually found out that this was the case, it is uprightly reprehensible as it is against the tenet of the civil service rules and conducts therefore,it is punishable under the law of the land. . Regrettably,the statement that the applicants were being impatiently unruly credited to Mr Abba Moro, the substantive minister of Interior while granting interview to some journalists if it is anything to go by, is nothing but a recklessly rendered remark of a person apparently suffering from chronic verbal diarrhoea. At least, inspite of his level of eduction and a minister of federal republic of Nigeria for that matter,he should have known better that limited decorum is expected when dealing with such an enormity of crowd especially when just 2 out of 8 gates (doors) in each of the utilized stadium were opened while other 6 gates were shot. This no doubt consequently impeded the ease of ingress and egress of the mammoth applicants which invariably resulted into the needless stampede. In a sane clime therefore, Abba Moro would have resigned by now or fired as the case may be, at least if not for anything at all but for his afterwards irresponsible statement. However, Nigeria is nothing short of a banana republic where the culture of impunity thrives to high heaven. Therefore, Abba Moro and the rest of other distinguished emminent Nigerian personalities can at will perpetrate henious crime against the masses of this country and still go scot free. . Going forward therefore, as a matter of utmost exigency something drastic has to be done not only to appropriately serve as a detterent but fundamentally to remedy this arrant anomalies endemic in the system. Therefore, it is palpably clear from the foregoing that the N I S recruitment calamity is avoidable especially if adequate arrangement were properly put in place before the commencement of the recruitment exercise. Hence, without being irrationally sentimental, it can be logically established beyond any reasonable doubt that this egregious loss of highly valued innocent lifes only occured as a result of sheer irresponsibility of N I S hierarchies who obviously call the shots at the agency and therefore should be held responsible for this shabby recruitment catastrophe. A genuine panacea of approach to this issue is, first and formost for the presidency to constitute with an immidiate alacrity, a panel of enquiry with a view not only to unraveling the actual cause of this monumental tragedy but in addition, to also go a step further in priscribing in clear cut terms a suitable disciplinary measure to be meted out to any of the N I S boss find culpable of any indictable offence(s) wantonly committed against the innocent job seeking Nigerians. . Against this unwholesome background therefore, government should also henceforth ensure that any future recruitment exercise especially with regard to any gorvernment estblishment must first of all pass through the civil service commission for ratification before such agency could go ahead with such recruitment plan. This should be done in order to avoid any repeat of this needless but painfull loss of young law abiding Nigerians striving for survival in the future. Although to be candid, no any amount of money is quantifiably commensurate to human life nothwithstanding, government should endeavour venture to compensate accordingly the bereaved families as this gesture will somewhat mitigate the colossal effect of the irreparable loss and its attendant psychological trauma consequently inflicted on the affected families. Essentially, it must be critically noted that until when all these are properly taken care of, it is only then that the government can be said to be responsive and responsible to the plight of its citizenry.
Posted on: Tue, 25 Mar 2014 08:59:09 +0000
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