Press release
by the Movement for accountability and Good Governance on the NIS recruitment
saga
March, 16th 2014
Yesterday, the 15th of March 2014, 520,000 (five
hundred and twenty thousand) young people across the country were exposed under
the sun for the whole of the day in the name of NIS recruitment exercise and
treated like slaves, lesser human being and servants in their own nation.
About 20 young people lost their lives while over 70 other
young people were in critical conditions resulting from a stampede caused by lack
of proper planning, excessive crowd and a forceful attempt by security agents
to disperse the young people with tear gas.
The Nigerian immigration Service announced that 8,500 (eight
thousand five hundred) vacancies exist and invited over 40 million young
Nigerians to apply. The NIS imposed application fees of #1,000 through its
agency and over 520,000 young Nigerians paid and applied for the 8,500 slots
available across the entire nation. This amounted to over 520 million naira.
This implies that an average of 230 slots only were
available for each of the 36 states including the FCT. In the FCT, for
instance, the NIH accepted applications and collected #1,000 each from over
60,000 young Nigerians to fill the only 230 available slots. This is not only
irrational from such an agency, but wicked and senseless.
This led to the death of several young people and injuries to many across the country. To add insult to injury, the Minister of Interior, Mr.
Abba Moro, granted a live interview where he blamed the young people for their
deaths and ordeal in the exercise. The minister said the young people were
responsible for their deaths and injuries as they did not conduct themselves in
an orderly manner during the exercise.
We consider this an insult to injury and a dance on the
grave of the young people whose lives were lost by this irrational and
senseless style of recruitment exercise that exploited the ordeal of
unemployment among the young people to treat them like slaves and lesser beings
in their own nation.
The Joint Admission and Matriculation Board (JAMB) and other
similar examination bodies hold similar or tougher exams with about a million
young people or above at designated centers without stamped and casualties, but
the Minister of interior blamed the young people for their lack of competency
and planning.
You may recall that in sane nations like Latvia, a prime minister resigned after accepting
political responsibility for the collapse of a supermarket roof in the capital
that killed 54 people. Britain’s
immigration minister resigned over the employment of a foreign cleaner who was
considered an illegal immigrant.
In a similar
manner, Libya’s interim Interior Minister, Fawzi
Abdel-Al, resigned after increased criticism from the newly-elected Parliament
in regards to his handling of the recent spate of attacks on Sufi religious
sites by what appears to be hard-line Salafists. This is to mention just but a
few.
In response to the callous and inhuman treatment meted on
the Nigerian youths yesterday by the Nigerian Immigration service in the name
of a recruitment exercise and the subsequent defense of the action by the
Minister of Interior, Abba Maro, we demand the following:
1.
That Mr. President sack the Comptroller General of the
Nigerian Immigration Service, Mr. David Shikfu
Parradang tomorrow, the 17th of March 2014, if he does not
voluntarily resign tomorrow morning;
2.
That Mr. President also sack the Minister
of Interior, Mr. Abba Moro before the end of tomorrow, the 17th of
March 2014, if he doesn’t put in his resignation voluntarily tomorrow morning;
3.
That President Goodluck Jonathan apologize
to Nigerian young people for allowing this inhumane treatment and assault on
them under his leadership;
4.
That President Goodluck Jonathan sympathize
with the families of all those who lost their children in yesterdays saga and
pay adequate compensation to their families. The government should also take
responsibility of the medical bills of all those recuperating in hospitals.
We shall exercise patience till the end of tomorrow, the 17th
of March 2014, for the president to act on our demands. If by the end of tomorrow,
our demands are not met, we shall mobilize equal number of young people
assaulted by this immigrations recruitment saga to begin a continuous mass
protest in the Federal Capital Territory and all the states in Nigeria till our
demands are met.
There is palpably tension and anger among the young people
all over the country. The young people have had enough. We have been treated
like slaves and servants in our own land. We have been treated with contempt
and neglect in a nation we are supposed to be her pride. Today, we have decided
to take the bull by the horn to confront our challenges.
We encourage all young people that were affected by this
inhuman treatment to remain calm and keep mobilizing for an anticipated mass
movement and uprising which will begin on Tuesday, the 18th of March
2014, if the Nigerian government fails again to heed to our demand.
Com Jasper Azuatalam
National president, Movement for Accountability and Good
Governance
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