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Immigration Recruitment Tragedy: Why I Won’t
Resign – Abba Moro

The Minister of Interior, Abba Moro, on Monday explained why he is yet to
leave office seven months after he masterminded a poorly organised
recruitment exercise that killed no fewer than 20 applicants in stampedes at
overcrowded venues across the country.
After the March 15 tragedy, several Nigerians demanded the resignation or
dismissal of Mr. Moro and the Comptroller-General of Immigration, David
Parradang, as well as their criminal prosecution for involuntary homicide.
The duo, with Mr. Moro more culpable, had put in place a sham recruitment
process that enabled the interior ministry to extort at least N520 million in
compulsory levy imposed on applicants.
The minister, who initially blamed impatience and refusal by applicants to
abide by instructions for the tragedy, has since accepted responsibility for the
incident.
He has however refused to step down.
But speaking on a Channels TV’s breakfast programme, Sunrise, on Monday,
Mr. Moro made it clear he would not resign, saying he would rather stay put
in office to clear the mess caused by the incidence.
“The point at which we are now is not about resignation. That time has gone,”
Mr. Morro said in response to a question over why he refused to quit despite
widespread calls by Nigerians on him to do so. “At the time (people were
calling for his resignation), I think emotions were very high. I was in the eye
of a storm.
“At that time, a lot of options were on the table… The issue is do you resign
or do you stay to sort out the problem that have been created?
“I decided that staying and mopping up the mess caused by the lack of proper
implementation of our plans is better. That’s the point we are now.”
The minister said Nigerians should consider the tragedy as an accident which
he too did not plan for or envisage.
“I also have families. I didn’t set out on that journey knowing that accident
would occur that would lead to the death of human beings.
“We took everything into proper perspective. If we had succeeded, a few
Nigerians would have congratulated us for the job well done.
“But now that accident has happened, we will learn from what happened,” he
said.
Mr. Moro also explained why his ministry was yet to implement a directive by
President Goodluck Jonathan that three family members of each dead
applicant be given automatic employments.
He said after President Jonathan made the announcement, the Federal
Government also set up a committee over the recruitment tragedy, and that his
ministry preferred to wait for the panel to present its report before acting.
“Finally, the report is ready, waiting for submission and implementation,” the
minister said. “The next level is implementation. What I can say is that the
people affected should exercise understanding and patience. Nobody will
allow further mistakes.”
Only 4,556 vacancies were advertised by the immigration service, but 520,000
applicants registered to write the March 15 recruitment test. Each applicant
was required to pay N1,000 processing fee to be eligible to participate.
A PREMIUM TIMES report estimated that the NIS made at least N520
million from this compulsory levy imposed on applicants.
The extortion of the job seekers was done in flagrant disregard of the directive
by the House of Representatives that government agency should desist from
charging applicants taking part in recruitment exercises.
However, in his reaction to the tragedy at the time, Mr. Moro attributed the
deaths to the applicants’ “impatience.”
“The applicants lost their lives due to impatience; they did not follow the laid
down procedures spelt out to them before the exercise,” Mr. Moro had said.
“Many of them jumped through the fences of affected centres and did not
conduct themselves in an orderly manner to make the exercise a smooth one,”
Mr. Moro had added.
Mr. Moro’s comment sparked anger across Nigeria, with many citizens taking
to social media to call for his immediate sack.
The Federal Government and the National Assembly constituted separate
committees to probe the tragedy at the time. But the reports of the panels are
yet to be made public.

Gboliwe:
This man should have his big head examined! While he has a relatively sensible answer as to why he chose not to resign, I see no reason why after 7mths no new applicants/entrants have been made. I see no reason why the FG instruction on automatic employment to the select few have not yet being implemented. I see no reason why he hasn't quit now that the mess is all cleaned up according to him. For Chrissake, 7mths is such a long time to turn around a ministry na. This man is just plain heartless.

adconline:
Guilty as GEJ

Swizdoe:
I don't why GEJ loves shielding criminals

egift:


Because he is one.
- The Bible said, "Iron sharpeneth iron".
- The Britsh said "show me your friend and I will tell you who you are".

Swizdoe:

I don't why GEJ loves shielding criminals

brainpower:
The immigration saga was a very big tragedy and I knew that nothing will be done about it. The minister takes the larger chunk of the blame for not envisaging something like this would happen and when it did, the least he would have done was to device an emergency plan to make things go well even if it means cancelling it and putting another time table for the examination. That being said, 99percent of the applicants were graduates which means they could read atleast. When you were even paying for the registration and saw the crowd in only one branch off a bank, that should have given you a red flag, when you got there and saw the crowd, the best would have been to go back cos in PH alone we had more than the number required for all of the positions in the country. And knowing Federal civil service, they must share it among the states. I know the condiion of things in this country but that doesn't mean we shouldn't use our senses. I think the youths right now is the cause of our problem here and no longer our elders. How can an enlightened man allow himself to be used by a politician all in the name of "conditions are hard". We don't ask the right questions. The first question a youth asks his friend now is, are you ApC or PDP? We should be wise.

egift:
Abba Moro is enjoying the backing an support of Jonathan. So the money extorted, the fake jobs and the 19 innocent Nigerians that died - will not get Justice under the administration of Dr. Goodluck Jonathan.

Change2015:
Jonathan is never in a hurry to do the right thing. The minister should have been fired after such a tragedy, but I guess this government is not sensitive to, or interested in the opinion of the public.

#change
#GMB
#APC