The invitation of the Nigeria Immigration Service, NIS, Ministry of Interior and the Civil Defence, Fire Service, Immigration and Prisons Board by the House of Representatives Ad-Hoc Committee on Immigration Recruitment Stampede for a hearing at the National Assembly over the matter, was an eye-opener to the kind of scam, power play and impunity associated with that ill-fated recruitment that left about 15 innocent job seekers dead and about 131 injured in a stampede nationwide, to the embarrassment of the country.


Deputy Comptroller- General of Immigration, DCG, Yahaya Malgwi; Permanent Secretary, PS, Ministry of Interior, Abubakar Magaji and a Director Ministry of Interior, Abdulkarim Ibrahim, who is Secretary of the Board, faced the House Majority Leader, Femi Gbajabiamila, Minority Leader, Leo Ogor, and other Representatives, including Rep Mukhtari Shagari on the revealing hot seat.

It was a blames-trading, buck-passing moment over the recruitment failure and the Presidential effort to save the country some embarrassment in attempt to compensate the bereaved families and injured applicants.

Ogor had reminded the Interior team that the recruitment carried out on March…., 2014, and the accompanying tragedy, was quite embarrassing to the nation.

He thus said that the reason for their invitation was to hear their side before taking decision, following protest and petition to the House by young Nigerians, who lost their loved ones to that tragedy.

After that ugly incident, the then President, Goodluck Jonathan, had inaugurated a Presidential committee, headed by the Chairman of Civil Service Commission, with specific terms of reference to save the situation.

The Presidential Committee was amongst other things, asked to ensure that three family members, with at least one being a female, of all applicants who died, as well as all the injured applicants, are given immediate and automatic employmenent into the NIS.

The committee was given 12 weeks to carry out this face-saving assignment as ell as monitor the process of a fresh recruitment by the Board and NIS for all citizens.

Accordingly, letters of employment were duly issued to the deserving persons as directed.

While the Board duly issued letters of appointment to those in the officers cadre, the NIS also issued to those on other ranks as stipulated by law.

However, the PS, Magaji, would ensure that these persons never got down to work claiming that he was not part of the exercise and as such, he doubted the legality of the committee.

Been the most senior man on the team, and team leader, Magaji had the opportunity to address the committee first and attempted to furnish the committee with some documents.

BLAME TRADING, BUCK PASSING

Magaji started by making efforts to exonerate himself from the entire failed process by claiming that he merely resumed duties in Interior last November, about seven months after the tragedy.

The PS said that upon resumption, he never actively participated in any of the processes, as he was neither part of the Presidential committee nor carried along by his colleagues.

He said that at this time, action had shifted from his ministry to the committee, even as he openly accused then minister, Abba Moro of sidelining him.

Although he was not involved and thus, may not have been happy with the entire actions of the committee, he said while away in South Africa, he still found it in his heart to direct that the Board Secretary, Abdulkarim Ibrahim, issued letters of appointment for the specified beneficiaries as requested by the Committee.

Being the only one that could effect such directive, Magaji who indicated that he would have declined that request, said that he merely did it “so as not to embarrass Mr. President, since he needed it for the ceremony.”

He therefore made it bold to tell the Ad-Hoc committee that those appointment letters he directed to be issued were merely “ceremonial”.

This elicited concerns as it was the very reason that the House was probing the stampede, hence the holders of these letters complained that their appointments were rejected by the ministry.

Almost saying that he was on his own after saying that the letters were ceremonial, the Board Secretary, apparently disowning him, said that the letters were not false, and was the correct letter wthat any employee under the Board should wield, saying that he personally signed them as required by law.

On his own part, the representative of the NIS, Deputy Comptroller- General of Immigration, DCG, Yahaya Malgwi, said that the Immigration had fulfilled its own part of the Presidential directive too, by duly issuing appointment letters to the other ranks, junior cadre as was the practice by law.

He said that the NIS could not take one more step further as the ministry through the PS, embagoed the action.

POWER PLAY

It was gradually becoming clearer that there was a superiority contest and battle for supremacy between the Ps, minister, and the Presidential committee, and like it is said, when two elephants fight, the grass suffers. The beneficiaries are really suffering from this now, leading to this outcry.

According to Magaji the PS, the minister, then Abba Moro, was uncomfortable and thus furious about the arrangements that excluded the ministry and took its mandate to a committee.

Non-involvement of the Board in the process as stated by the Act made us unable to accede to the demand by the committee”, the PS said.

He stated that there was no directive by the President to that effect, that all those people wielding the “ceremonial employment letters”, should be formally engaged and regularised.

Magaji put to the House committee that the ministry was already facing the court over the matter and as there was nothing the ministry could do about that, being ready to face the court.

He said that the Presidential Committee should submit its report to the President and secure his approval to the ministry before they would be ready to act on it.

“Mr. President has every right to direct, but there must be a memo to back it up”, the PS insisted, claiming that the committee didn’t do so and without that, they cannot get salaries for these people.

He said that all those referred to the ministry for the employment, were not known to him and the ministry. “We only heard about it, we are waiting for Mr. President’s approval.”

THE SCAM

Magaji’s positions and the power play was soon beginning to irritate the sensibilities of the Reps, who at interval expressed provocation.

From the letter from the Secretary to Government of the Federation, SGF, conveying the presidential directives, Representative Gbajabiamila, who chaired the committee, asked the PS, since he claimed to be awaiting presidential approval that, “there was a presidential directive and mandate to liaise with your establishment for the purposes of finding out what happened to the aborted recruitment with a view to what end?

The House Leader in his annoyance further told Magaji to watch his tongue that he was making uncomplimentary references to the office of the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, when he referred to the employment letters as symbolic and ceremonial, saying that “it sounds deceptive”, as if the President arranged to deceive the deceased families and injured persons.

Gbajabiamila said that the committee already had a directive from the President and was working with same, but that what Magaji was doing was aimed at subjecting the directive to procedure and bureaucracy.

He said the committee people that conducted the exercise were convinced that in line with the presidential directives, families of these deceased applicants should be compensated with employment as succour. Based on that, these letters were issued but he worried that the PS refused to obey the presidential directive to regularise them. Thus his question, “why haven’t you respected and obeyed the directive?”

Magaji said he was suspecting the legality of the committee and again, that he didn’t know where to get salaries for these people.

This gave a clear answer to the Reps, that there was a foul play by the agencies involved from the beginning of the recruitment, as they worried over where they intended to get money before to pay the salaries in the first place that the ministry is now crying foul.

The NIS had in March 2014, called for application for recruitment of additional personnel into the Service.

All applicants for the exercise paid 1,000 naira each, before they could complete their registration for the test. They were also mandated to provide a medical report before being considered eligible for the exercise.

Since the Nigeria Immigration Service is a Paramilitary agency, they were instructed to put on white sporting attires for fitness training and easy identification.

http://nationalmirroronline.net/new/reps%C2%92-probe-exposes-the-scam-power-games-in-immigration-recruitment/

Good news

After killing innocent nigerians, una still carry their lives deh play ludo! As far as this entity is concern, nobody is clean and so there's no need to start forming saint or god because power changed hands. The bereaved families gentle o, tosay na me, na to jazz up the dead to pursue these mofos make we kon see di last man standing.
Again, God deh soak una cain for kerosine!

Probe and expose that won't stop another mess in the future...

ok

See gobe.

In a country with President and minister.

one PS from nowhere says he douth the authenticity of a presidential directive, that was made public.

thereby making the president look lik a jester, president deceiving the masses.

and the fools is still holding on to his job.

Me I no wan be lik that president, too dull for my liking, I cnt imagine my employee ridicule me to this extends and I still keep him there, finally I left the coy while him still there.

Lubish..

I will read later..

jcflex:
See gobe.
In a country with President and minister.
one PS from nowhere says he douth the authenticity of a presidential directive, that was made public.
thereby making the president look lik a jester, president deceiving the masses.
and the fools is still holding on to his job.
Me I no wan be lik that president, too dull for my liking, I cnt imagine my employee ridicule me to this extends and I still keep him there, finally I left the coy while him still there.
Lubish..

You missed the news.

The last part explains it all: There's no job! Presidency was trying to dump the new recruits on the ministry with connivance of the minister, while the PS had no way of finding salaries to pay them hence his refusal to expressly accept them.

Op this your topic long shall I go read am lata

homerac7:


You missed the news.

The last part explains it all: There's no job! Presidency was trying to dump the new recruits on the ministry with connivance of the minister, while the PS had no way of finding salaries to pay them hence his refusal to expressly accept them.

I laught in Spanish.

hope you read what you type again and again.

is it the PS that source for funds to pay workers in the ministry salary.
it was made clear «BLAME TRADING AND BUCK PASSING» cnt you read between the lines, that the PS is only trying to cover up and exonerate himself.

The PS and the ministry refuse to work with the presidential committee that was set up.

hence the refuser to absorb those recommended by the committee into the NIS, we all know FG is responsible for their salary after their appointment is regularise

is the PS using his own personal money to pay them.

Still no talk about the refund of recruitment fees to the applicants?

The PS was only trying to protect his neck since he knew the politicians wanted to score a cheap point by recruiting people into the system. He also knew there was no money to pay salaries to the new recruits at the time. The politicians knew this and that's why they hijacked the process.

jcflex:


is it the PS that source for funds to pay workers in the ministry salary.

The PS and the ministry refuse to work with the presidential committee that was set up.


is the PS using his own personal money to pay them.

Every ministry has an annual budget with a subhead for salaries. Before any MDA can recruit,they have to get prior approval from the Presidency so that it can be captured in the budget on time.

If salaries for new recruits are not captured in the budget,there is no way they will get salaries. The PS knew this and decided to protect his neck. The Presidential committee was supposed to carry the Ministry along but they never did because they knew it was all a sham.

Where is the final report by the committee?

Why has the recruitment fees not been refunded to the applicants?

I hope you know the NIS claimed that they were not carried along in the recruitment process.

This is an outrage!! What the hell is a "ceremonial" appointment letter?? Gosh! The kind of fraud and impunity that characterised the last admin was just unbelievable.

Sorry,I don't believe any thing from Hungerbad, Omenka and Sharareporters. I zoom off from here.