SOURCE: www.tribune.com.ng/14072008/news/news2.html

NO fewer than 20 people died and many others now on danger list in various states of the federation at the recruitment exercise conducted by the Ministry of Interior to the Nigeria Prisons Service, Nigeria Immigration Service and Customs Service.

In Kaduna, eight candidates, three of whom were women, lost their lives in the fitness exercise conducted by the Immigration Service.

Nigerian Tribune gathered that three applicants died while five are on danger list in Osun State at the end of a 3.2-kilometre race which took place between Akoda and the NYSC orientation camp, Ede.

In Umuahia, Abia State, two female applicants who were participating in the Nigeria Immigration Service recruitment exercise lost their lives in a stampede, while two other applicants died in Awka, Anambra State.

It was also gathered that several others fainted and suffered injuries in both Enugu and Awka and were later rushed to the Federal Medical Centre, Umuahia.

In Enugu, four of the job seekers died and 21 others were seriously injured while forcefully opening the gate leading to the venue of the screening exercise.

In Ilorin, Kwara State, two persons lost their lives while hundreds sustained injuries during the recruitment exercise which took place at the Cherubim and Seraphim College, Ilorin.

In Ado-Ekiti, Ekiti State, a young graduate whose identity could not be immediately ascertained collapsed and died while participating in the recruitment exercise.

The deceased, according to some of the participants, was in good spirit in readiness for the exercise when they gathered in the morning at the Oluyemi Kayode Stadium, venue of the exercise.

Nigerian Tribune gathered that four applicants in Delta State were on danger list as a result of the injuries sustained during the exercise.

The second batch of the recruitment exercise was conducted at the weekend, where polytechnic graduates who had applied for various posts in the Immigration, Prisons and Custom Services participated at designated areas in the 36 states of the federation.

As early as 6.00 a.m., the applicants had assembled at the venues of their respective recruitment centres to commence the jogging of between 20 and 30 kilometres which should be completed under 20 minutes.

After the jogging, written tests in English language, Mathematics and Current Affairs were conducted for candidates who did well in the jogging exercise.

An officer of the Nigerian Prison Service (name withheld) told the Nigerian Tribune that the screening centres were over-crowded before the commencement of the recruitment exercise, adding that when the exercise finally commenced, some of the applicants, in an effort to get themselves screened by the officials, jumped the queues which led to a stampede.

According to him, “many applicants who were in the queue fell down as they trampled on one another with many of them sustaining serious injuries, while some lost their lives before they could be rushed to the hospital for medical attention.”

SOURCE: www.tribune.com.ng/14072008/news/news2.html

its realy sad and is high time government did something on this unemployment stuff, may their souls rest in the bossom of lord. and may we not be victms oooo.

sorry for the lost souls but i keep asking myself why would you run a race that you know you don't have the stamina for,it's sucide,it's like flying a plane without any prior knowledge and even if you started and you see that you can't complete it you stop and find a way of getting out of there the same thing happens during NYSC endurance trek, you find people fainting and all that. it's almost like suicide, a friend of mine went for the test and left when she was told they were going to run.

i think its suicidal indeed to participate in what you know you dont have stamina for, all the same government should come to our aid before we loss more nigerian youths in a venture that's not worth dying for. Its so so sad

What kind on rubbish is this again?

This is very very sad, i th ink there shud have been some set that u have to pass before taking part in the exercise

Life is worth more than how people just die this days, after spending years in school, going for a job recruitment and just died like a Christmas chicken

really sad  . i once went for a jobsearch recruitment excercise and almost fainted myself. my dad banned me from going for any recruitment excercise or interview till further notice. The crowd, the fight, the heat, the pushing, the stiffling different smells from people, their dissappointing stories, their frustrated faces .  .   .   .  . all looked so sad to me. i left the place without writing the exams. The sad part was that we all had to buy a scratch card to partake in the aptitude test.

First of all may their souls rest in perfect peace. But there is a fault from every angle of a story. The exercise was tiresome and worst of all killing, then when you see you cannot make it why kill your self in the process. Nobody knows his/her own body but himself/herself. Besides it is military training, what is expected and we are also in Nigeria so the necessary precautions “am sure were” not taken.

talk4real
u are right, that is what i said when i almost fainted and just walked out of the venue, saying  smtg about us being grads and shldnt be treated like goats but people were not feeling me, they were even pushing more. we can't blame them, they really dnt have any means of liveihood. They have to eat or wot do u think?
The nigerian economic situation is bad, very bad

what health and safety measures were taken? I am very sure the answer is NONE, NONE, NONE and NONE. What a shame!

And while some people nearly got themselves killed, some people no comot for their Papa house at all, and they'll end up getting the best jobs in the Immigration and Prison service.

What a shame!

This is serious! May their souls rest in peace. This is what joblesness can do to Nigerian youths. Some probably knew they got not the strength, but still participated coz of joblesness. Too bad.     Is immigrations/government going to compensate their families?

Really shameful performance by the government again, pity legal avenues are not easy to pursue in Nigeria. I had the misfortune of going past the recruitment venue in Ibadan, Adamasingba stadium and was shocked at the crowd in attendence. I had to also wonder how much the salary of a customs officer is? Or is it possible that all this recruits were hoping to be employed and sent to the border to amass wealth by dubious means?

janami:

talk4real
u are right, that is what i said when i almost fainted and just walked out of the venue, saying  smtg about us being grads and shldnt be treated like goats but people were not feeling me, they were even pushing more. we can't blame them, they really dnt have any means of liveihood. They have to eat or wot do u think?
The nigerian economic situation is bad, very bad

uve said it all

May their soul rest in peace

That a kind of country we are into,

Tasma:

Really shameful , pity legal avenues are not easy to pursue in Nigeria.

That is the most painful aspect of it
Otherwise the FG and immigration authorities would have had enough litigations to grapple with for the next ten years,not to talk of the billions of naira they would have paid as compensation,that is the only way they would have learnt to do things properly

Tis so sad, may God comfort their families, but this should be taken as a lesson for the country's health services and candidates themselves.its serious business out there

May their souls rest in perfect peace: can i here u say Amen

AMEN!

amen o

may there soul rest in peace,we need alot of prayers in this so called nation that we are.just prayers,

Even footballers go for fitness test before signing new contracts(at least in advance countries). Many of these people donnot know anything about their health status. Alot of them have never done any form of physical activity in their life, Some one who has been reading only accountancy in school, how do you expect him to be physically fit? Our education system trains us to be sedentrist. Once u know you are to run a marathon race, you need to prepare well for it. I even doubt if their recruiters are even fir enough, They should do something about those people who involuntarily died for the recruitment exercise

Chei!!!!!
whick kind job be that?
shey na 5million den wan pay per month?
immigration job? wetin den dey do? sell passports or what? na im people come kpeme like that?

olorun maje kin sese iya. . .

I heard that the pay is 28k monthly for a start!!!!!!!!! i live in Enugu and i am an eye witness, a lady collapsed in Front of Federal Government College Independence layout, Nobody to rescue her at that moment, it took them 5mins to revive her b4 she was taken to the nearest hospital in a private car that was just passing by.They are not ashame of themselves, NO AMBULANCE!!!!

total rubbish! what was all the fitness exercise for, are they trying to give the impression that our para-military are fit, with their big protruding belles and over fat laps due to excess bribes.  i blame nigeria for the waste of precious lives, they must have been frustrated from being jobless too long, and decided to take thge marathon, even when they know they dnt have the stamina. poor souls, may they find eternal rest.

20km in 20 minutes , that is like 2.5 miles in 4 minutes, and the current world record in only about 1 mile in 4 minutes , who was the idiot who thought this up

AND SISTERS MAY YOUR SOULS REST IN PERFECT PEACE BUT NEVER ASKED GOD WHY? WHEN YOU GET TO PARADISE.it is absolutely worth deplorable.A man is hungry,he goes to bed hungry.When he takes illed,a rich man who is usually fit as fiddle is treated first,and he is treated last if at all he succeeds in seeing a doctor in the first place.More than 54% of nigerians go to bed hungry-more than 45% have no access to a clean drinking water.No hope-no joy -no future and the same people blamed them for giving try to their fates.It is quit pathentic to live in struggling and to say good bye to world in stuggling.
My prayer is that this hurricane will only carry the sowers.Yet thousands of the rich did not come for the exercise but i tell you their names will be first shortlisted.Nigeria weeps not for your child,for it seems to me that in Nigeria fortunates are those who were not born!
BROTHERS

The essence of the exercise in the first place was not recruitment per se but some kind of ritual. May the souls of the dead never allow the evil ones who caused their death no rest.

it seems that the nigerian government is not serious on the death of its citizens many a time people die from one circumstances or another all this semms as if it is falling on deaf ear where our goverment is. last month many died on the ijegun fire disaster caused by a construction company is eiher the fire service had no water or the tanker use for combating fire is not in place,

it is high time our governmnt should start doing vital job on the area of saving the life ot its citizens. Nigeria is a Country that swallows its citizens,

i feel those poor job seeking Nigerians where killed by the inefficiency of the Nigerian Customs recruitment process. Why would you take people through the rigors of physical exercise without making adequate preparation for first aid devices and kits. It all smells of stern and black evil, that hid in the stupidity of an organisation that has prided itself in corruption and its lewd ways.
The bllod of those innocent Nigerians would forever cast a shadow on that body, and the cries of their souls shall serve as constant torment to the lousy pot bellied fools who refused to do their jobs!

Na wa o, with the heat wey dey naija dem still want make person run. makes you wanna ask yourself, how much money is worth risking your life for.

RECRUITMENT METHOD APPLIED IS FAULTY, THERE ARE SEVERAL STAGES IN RECRUITING, CANDIDATES WHO ARE NOT PHYSICALLY STRONG SUPPOSED TO HAVE BEEN ELIMINATED,
THEY OUGHT NOT TO FACE RIGOROUS EXERCISE IN NIGERIA AND OTHER AFRICA COUNTRIES CAUSES OF MASSIVE DEATH IS NOT NATURAL DISASTERS BUT HUMAN INDUCED ERRORS.

THE FACT THAT THIS UGLY INCIDENCE OCCURRED IN SEVERAL PLACES IS EVIDENCE OF SHODDY OR LACK OF PLANNING. . WHILE COMMISERATING WITH THE FAMILY OF THE DECEASED  NIGERIAN.
WE MUST ARISE AND START TO THINK OF BETTER AND EXCELLENT WAYS, METHOD AND PROCESS IN ALL THINGS.

@ efosanice

Why would anybody run a race he doesn't have the stamina for? Desperation, everybody is looking to be able to make two ends meet. But at the same time wouldn't you say that is foolhardy on their part.

bibiking1:

Why would you take people through the rigors of physical exercise without making adequate preparation for first aid devices and kits.

Rightly said. All the allocation for first aid and medicals must have been shared by the officers.

The question now is do these people in hospital and the families of those that die get compensation from either the Federal government, Ministry of Interior to the Nigeria Prisons Service, Nigeria Immigration Service and Customs Service. These people die on their grounds in the process of interview.