Opinion
NIS Tragedy: Should Moro, Paradang Be Sacked?
It was tragedy in many states in the country penultunate
Saturday as 19 job seekers who participated in the Nigeria Immigration Recruitment exercise died in the stampede that ensued at overcrowded venues of the exercise.
Following the unfortunate incident, the Nigeria Labour Congress, youths and some prominent Nigerians have called for the sack of the Minister of Interior, Comrade Abba Moro and the Comptroller General of Immigration, David Paradang despite President Goodluck Jonathan’s compensation for families of the deceased applicants and the hospitalised victims.
Our Chief Correspondent, Calista Ezeaku and photographer, Dele Obinna, sought the views of Port Harcourt residents on the burning issue: Hon. Samuel Yorkum (Insurance Consultant).
My advice is that people should be careful how they respond to any job advertisement especially this political era. Politicians are not reliable, especially when it comes to dealing with the public because they can do anything to get that position. I will advice job seekers to be careful. When they go for any job interview and see a very large crowd, they should withdraw from the exercise.
The president has tried to compensate the families that lost their loved ones in that stampede although that cannot bring back life. We should give him kudos for doing that but then; the applicants are to be blamed for that tragedy. When you see a large crowd in any public gathering, you should watch and be careful because if you don’t get that job, another job opportunity will come out tomorrow. You should have trust in God in whatever you are doing. When your body tells you this thing is risky, you should withdraw. But people do” gree-die,” it’s either do or die, I must be employed.
If God will give you employment, you wouldn’t suffer for it.
I think the recruitment exercise should have been handled with better tactics.
However, nobody is perfect. So I don’t think the Minister of Interior, Abba Moro and the Comptroller-General of Immigration should be sacked because of the unfortunate incident. If the incident happened because of their mistakes, any other person can make it tomorrow; does that mean people will be sacked, sacked and sacked?
So these people should not be punished but they should go back home and carry out thorough investigation on how to carry out hitch-free exercises in future.
Mr. Solomon Kalu (Applicant)
I took part in the recruitment exercise here in Port Harcourt. I sustained an injury that day. The crowd there was unimaginable. This is because there are no job opportunities in this country. The youths are wasting. It is very painful after going to school, you come out there is no job. So what happened that day was a very sad experience; lives were lost, many people were injured. It is good that the President had decided to compensate the families of those that died in the stampede. It is very painful that after sending your children to school, after investing so much, you will lose them out of some people’s negligence of their duties. And I think that Saturday’s incident should be investigated and anybody found culpable should be punished appropriately. Abba Moro and Paragang should not necessarily be sacked. There should be laid down procedures on how to conduct similar exercise in future. People that have degree, HND, OND, FSLC, WAEC certificates should have been taken to different venues instead of squeezing everybody in one place. The crowd was more than the capacity of the stadium. All the seats were occupied and people were asked to sit on the grass and write exams. Things are not done that way. There should be procedures of doing things. They should give us back the N1,000.00 we paid. I even borrowed that money and I had to pay transport fare to the bank to pay it. It is so painful that they had to extort money from jobless people. It’s very unfair.
Mr. Moses Freeman (Consultant)
The stampede is a wrong signal for the nation. It shows that leaders in Nigeria have no plans for the youths. If we are saying that youths are leaders of tomorrow, there should be a transition plan. What we are seeing today is a situation where those in authority refuse to plan. Ordinarily, in the 21st century, we are in, there is nothing wrong in this computer age to organise a test through computer arrangement. Majority of graduates today are exposed to computer, so why gathering them in a stadium, an open place to write exam. It is very wrong. I condemn it. And that is why I am equally in support o those agitating that the Comptroller General of Immigration, Paradang and the Minister of Interior, Abba Moro should be removed from their offices for lack of planning. In planning and management, you put into consideration how you get things done without much problems. This is not the first time such unfortunate incident is happening. This is the second time. So it should be discouraged. And if they are removed that will create opportunity for Nigerians to know that the leadership of Jonathan is responsive to the problems of the youths in the country.
The compensation given by Mr. President is as a result of the laxity of those in government. It is very wrong. Is it because somebody is dead in a family that you can now give employment to them? It is only a useless father who refuses to plan for the children. There is no transition plan in this country and that is the problem we have. Many people within the corridors of power today were in government from the age of twenty. Some of them refuse to allow the youths of today to have a place in government and that is the problem. The youths of today feel they are not stakeholders in this present democracy.
There should be a revolution. Not the type that will take gun or anything. It is a resolution that square pegs in round holes should be removed. Those who lack understanding of strategic planning and management of things around the country should be removed. So the youths of this country should now know that they have no stake in this country. They should sit up, plan and seek a way forward for themselves through a revolution of organised minds. The problem within the youths again is ignorance. They don’t even know their left from their right. If not, they were supposed to even reject in the first place, coming to write an examination in an open place in this modern world.
And I want to add that the money collected from the applicants should be refunded for purposes of transparency. And if possible, government should pay them more for suffering them. The emotional trauma they passed through is enough reason for government to pay. There is enough money in this country to go round. If somebody can spend N10 billion to maintain a chartered plane, a minister in this country, that N10 billion is enough for all those that participated in that exercise for suffering them as a nation.
Gloria Princewill (Business woman)
It’s very sad after investing on a child to have him die in such way. The government is supposed to provide jobs for the youths instead of asking all applicants to come to one particular venue for recruitment exercise only for them to have this kind of problem. It’s a sad thing. Even if the persons responsible for the unfortunate incident are sacked, the people that died have died. It’s for us to put our heads together to think of a better plan on how to tackle unemployment in the country. They should also think of better ways to organise this type of programme in future. Government should empower the youth through skill acquisition and others.
They don’t need to wait until tragedy like this happens before giving people job. Is it only when people died in circumstances like this that they wake up from their slumber? These are things they are supposed to have done before now. The ministers and what have you are just there to keep themselves good. They don’t think about the poor people. They should sit down and think of what to do because every year people are coming out from school, what are they going to do? They are just employing the people they know. Man know man is just too much in this Nigeria. That is what is killing us. You cannot find their children in that kind of place.
Mr. Jaja Gift (Civil Servant)
The way the recruitment exercise was conducted was not supposed to be. I agree that a lot of people blame the government and all that. Be that as it may be, you see, we have to be very clear about the issue. Corruption is the basic of our struggle today in Nigeria. I’m surprised that a parastatal like the Nigeria Immigration Service would conduct such an interview in a open place. This is my first time of experiencing such situation. I have been in this state when Air Force and other parastatals were conducting similar recruitment exercise. There were days for school Certificate, OND, HND, Degree holders. And when you know that your certificate falls on so, so so, day, you go. I have not seen a situation where you gather thousands of persons in one place for a test. It is surprising. I don’t even understand what is going on.
We talk about corruption. I think it is now the government has to sit up to look into the issue because I see no reason why N1,000 should be collected from each applicant, for what? I don’t understand what it means.
The president has tried by compensating the families of the dead and the hospitalised victims but it is not enough. Must somebody die before you know the situation on ground? Must somebody die before you know that this person needed this? Look at poverty all over the country and few individuals are somewhere sucking even the poor masses who have nothing doing. If it was all well in Nigeria, would we have such crowd for just an interview? And how many persons do they want?
The Minister of Interior and the Comptroller-General of Immigration should be punished. If sack is the appropriate punishment, fine. The government knows what to do to them. Government should go into details and find out why a government form should be sold to a job seeker who borrowed money to come for an interview. It is not only Moro and Paradang that should be punished. All the key officers in Immigration should be called to order and punished. They should all be brought to book. All the people that benefitted from the exploit should be brought to book.
Before the Saturday, October 5, Local Government Council Election to midwife the rebirth of elected Local Government administrations in Rivers State, it was hard on me to believe that general elections can hold in Nigeria without the Nigerian Police and other statutory security organisations’ participation to provide security. So when the Abuja High Court restrained the Nigerian Police from giving security for a seamless, hitch-free election processes, I was startled on the security of election materials, adhoc staff of the Rivers State Independent Electoral Commission (RSIEC) and the voters, even though legal luminaries posit that it is not within the ambit of Federal courts to legislate on Local Government matters. Many people thought that the Inspector-General of Police’s decision to promptly obey judicial orders would either truncate the process or trigger voter apathy.
However, the outcome: violence-free, massive participation of voters even the participation of those who confessed that they had not exercised their franchise in the last 24 years of Nigeria democratic dispensation, does not only prove me wrong but also speak volumes of a people yearning for self determination at the grassroots. It also shows that the time of a marked departure from the ugly, repressive and dictatorial past has inevitably come to an end. It underscores the emergence of a new political order and structure that are the prerogative of the people and a function of legitimacy from the people, not a structure that is a product of a coercive, repressive , and other measures that negate democratic values and norms. For once, Rivers people have sent a message that they remain a distinct political entity with the right to decide who leads them.
The people of Rivers State, from the Ikwerres, the Kalabaris, Etches, Ndonis, Wakirikes, Andonis, the Ekpeyes, Ogonis, Abuans and several other micro ethnic and language people as a resilient and brave people have gained consciousness to dislodge the human instrument that perpetrates oppression even as Karl Marx said, “It is only when people are conscious of the fact that they are oppressed can they rise to dislodge the instrument that makes the oppression possible”. The October 5, Local Government Election, shows that despite its ethnic and language diversity Rivers State is homogeneous, united in corporate interest and goal. Rivers people have proven that general election without the presence of Nigerian Police is possible. Some voters have also alleged that considering the peaceful election achieved without the presence of Nigerian Police, the crisis-ridden elections in Nigeria may have been the architecture of the Police. Some believe that their presence poses a discomfort to voters and an uneasy calm in voting environment.
Now that it is possible to conduct elections without them the Federal and Sub- national electoral bodies can reduce cost of conducting elections. The huge budget allocated to security for election purposes presupposes waste, so can be channeled to other critical sectors. This laudable achievement-a peaceful election without Nigerian Police would have been elusive without the peaceful, mentally and emotionally matured, God-fearing disposition and Rivers First mantra of the Executive Governor, Siminalayi Fubara. The Governor’s passion for peace and development even amid provocative and inciting statements by detractors and enemies of Rivers State, has endeared him to the people and whittled down the influence and relevance of the opposition in Rivers State. It is not gainsaying the fact that in recent times, the Nigerian Police has flagrantly violated professional, ethical and moral standards.
The high command seems to have sacrificed their statutory obligations to the people on a whim for personal relationships and filthy lucre. They seem to have allowed pecuniary gains to dull and cloud their sense of reasoning and their primary statutory responsibilities of crime detection and prevention, protection of lives and property. The occupation of Local Government Council Secretariats in the 23 Local Government Areas of Rivers State by the Nigeria Police, preventing Caretaker Committees and staff of Local Government councils to access their offices to carry out legitimate duties when States with caretaker administrations functioned without Police interference, is a dent on the credibility and integrity of the Nigerian Police. At the wake of the political upheaval in Rivers State, the Executive Governor of the State, Sir Siminalayi Fubara, received his dose of the rascality of some men of the Nigerian Police. Canisters of water were shot at the Governor as gleaned from viral videos and other media outfits.
How could the Nigerian Police have descended so low to derecognise the Executive Governor who is the Chief Security Officer of Rivers State? What came on them to compromise their duties to the people and Government of Rivers State? How on earth could they have deemed serving the interest of one man in Abuja is paramount and transcends that of the generality of Rivers people? The Nigerian Police by their inactions and untoward activities in Rivers State, tried to convey a false assumption that there are two Governors in Rivers State. This animosity on the state lends support for the quest for and against State Police. A State Police formation will be necessary, Purpose-driven and effective under a cool-headed, humane, objective and listening governor like Governor Fubara. However, a State Police in control of the opposition in Rivers will be the German Nazis – an instrument of torture, oppression, and autocratic governance.
The Nigerian Police should be and be seen to be professional, neutral, non- partisan, conscientious and sagacious in their conduct, if they must earn the respect of the people. The Nigerian Police and the Judiciary should resist the allures of being used as anti-democratic institutions to truncate Nigeria’s hard-earned democracy. No doubt every profession has its hazards. If the challenges of a profession do not allow a person to uphold integrity and ethical standards, it is better to quit the job. It is honourable to die for what you know is right than living for the shadow, and the mundane. When money and wealth are lost, nothing is lost but when integrity is lost everything is lost.
Igbiki Benibo
That President Ahmed Bola Tinubu plans to reshuffle his cabinet is no more any secrets. Before now many notable Nigerians, civil society groups, socio-cultural bodies and even Mr President’s party, the All Progressives Congress (APC), have called on the president to weed-out non-performing officials from his government in the face of worsening hardships engendered by poorly conceived and implemented federal government policies. Mr President had himself hinted at heeding the calls when he warned that top government officials whose periodic performance reports turn out poor would be dropped from his government. “If you are performing, nothing to fear. If you miss the objective, we’ll review it. If no performance, you leave us. No one is an island and the buck stops on my desk,” President Tinubu had warned cabinet members and other top government officials, during a three-day retreat last November. Since then, a Central Delivery Coordination Unit headed by Presidential Special Adviser on Policy Coordination, Hadiza Bala-Usman, has been established to receive ministerial reports and measure performances. But while the criteria for performance verification and rating remain unknown, no publication has been made by the unit since its inception.
Nearly a year after inauguration, Tinubu’s cabinet remains the same in the face of worsening state of affairs, except for the suspension early this year, of Humanitarian Affairs and Poverty Alleviation Minister, Dr Betta Edu, following a financial scandal that so embarrassed the administration. Many had long expected far-reaching measures from President Tinubu to reverse the worsening economic hardships in the country. However, after rising unrests culminated into major nation-wide protests in August, and another billed for October, grapevine sources inside the presidency revealed frantic considerations of the calls for cabinet change. But would Mr President play to the gallery by appearing to yield to popular demands, or has he finally reckoned that rising poverty is pushing the nation towards breaking points, hence the need to re-tool? As lofty as the ‘Renewed Hope Agenda’ sounded, to many ordinary Nigerians, the reality of the mantra is nothing but abysmal failures.
But having dragged for months, it appears the supposed tonic of cabinet reshuffle poses a hard nut to crack for Mr President, which had set herculean tasks for presidential aides to continuously deny the hushed effort, until presidential spokesperson, Mr Bayo Onanuga, finally acquiesced to the veracity of the rumours. Ever since, the whirling vortex of rumours shifted from it being a possibility, to how soon it comes, much as speculations now brew on who makes or has made the new list, and who gets or got dropped from the current. Intense lobbies said to have been mounted at the presidency may have caused Mr President so much distractions to force him scamper abroad with the unfinished list, on a pretext of going on vacations. The inability of Mr President to make swift changes that quickly respond to urgent challenges reflects the complexity of our system and how sourcing for trusted technocrats, contending with vested interests and the need for political balance, may hamstring a government’s ability to maneuver through troubled times.
It is note-worthy however, that lasting solutions to many of Nigeria’s problems lie much not in cabinet make-ups than in corruption and the lack of sincere, political will to getting problems solved, which situates Mr President at the centre of blames for much of our nation’s current woes. For instance, if Mr President is determined at tackling Nigeria’s major economic failures of recent past, the first consideration should be to critically review the declining performance of the ministry of petroleum resources, which serially became lacklustre since the portfolio got vested on Mr President’s office since from the time of President Mohammadu Buhari in 2007. With the sole heartbeat of Nigeria’s mono-economy entrapped at the very busy office of Mr President, who has no time to over-see the day-to-day affairs of the petroleum sector, yet is so immuned to accountability summons, no one should wonder why the petroleum industry, as well as the Nigerian economy, has degenerated ever since. Coupled with general insecurity, the decline in official petroleum production data since then led to dwindling foriegn exchange, ballooning official debts and the current general inflation.
As for the performance of the ministry of defence, whose past lapses led to the destabilisation of Nigeria’s agricultural sector by bandits, the current momentum at last, against terrorism and banditry, looks encouraging. But while it is worrisome that sources reveal that some saboteurs who fraternise with terrorists also seat in our nation’s high offices, the direct accusation by a sitting governor against no smaller personality than the current minister of state for defence, is an alarm that should not be neglected. Even as the accused denies and reverses the accusation, government should beware that the presence of such controversial figures is a burden to the image of government. Mr President also needs to take serious reviews at the performance short-comings of our nation’s ministry of interior which over-sees law enforcement and compliance establishments. Bedevilled by corruption, inadequate financing and institutional weaknesses, some of these institutions fall short of expectations and reportedly bow most times, to the whims of corruption. The current Bobrisky saga for instance, has put the Nigerian Correctional Services and the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission in gloom spotlight, and reflects how badly our institutions may have been compromised.
It is advisable however, that the move to scrap the Humanitarian Affairs Ministry may not be good for ordinary Nigerians who pass through the harshest consequences of the policies of this administration. Even if the ministry faces distrust from many due to years of non-transparent distribution of reliefs worth billions, and from which so many vulnerable Nigerians did not get a dime, Nigerians still desperately in need of bail-outs would prefer a disciplined and better managed public welfare ministry. The current situation in the country requires the collective concentration of all to ensure full recovery. The president should therefore beware of cabinet members who would let themselves be drawn to divisive political grand-standings that not only drain energies needed to restore the economy, but distract the focus of his government at tackling pressing challenges.
So, as Nigeria and Nigerians await President Tinubu reshuffle his cards for another chance at good governance, history beckons on him to set name and good marks, in gold.
Joseph Nwankwor
Over the years, the remarks of Konrad Adenuar, (January 6, 1876 – April 1967), a former Chancellor of Western Germany, that ”in view of the fact that God limited the intelligence of man, it seems unfair that He (God) did not also limit his stupidity”, has continued to agitate the minds of critics including public affairs analysts. This comment, which put succinctly, highlights God’s unfairness for supposedly setting definite limit on man’s wisdom (intelligence) but failed to set the same limit on man’s stupidity, has attracted wide spread condemnations from different sects; christians and non christians alike. Similarly, some critics, largely writers, hold the sentiment that society should not concentrate on juvenile delinquency alone but should also be concerned about what some identified as “adult delinquencies” since societal ills,grievious misdemeanors are traceable to adults, some of whom are leaders of thoughts occuping high offices.
Nigeria is replete with gutter Languages in public spaces deserving of concern and attention. One classic example is the recent outburst of Senator Adams Oshomhole, a former Governor of Edo State. It would be recalled that Senator Adams Oshomhole referred to the wife of the Governor of Edo State, Mrs Betsy Obaseki, as a barren woman.Truly, it could be said that Mrs Betsy Obaseki stoc the crisis when she referred to the governorship aspirant of All Progressive Congress (APC) Monday Okpebholo, as a man without a wife. Political campaigns should be undertaken or conducted to discuss issues and not insults to enable the electorate choose a credible leader who can provide solutions to societal challenges. No doubt, it is regrettable that a former labour leader, governor and now a serving Senator, Adams Aliya Oshomhole, considered as highly experienced to exhibit civility, maturity and superior acumen in a challenging situation such as this, particularly when viewed against the backdrop that the comrade- senator was not speaking at a political rally ground.
Recently, the West, particularly Europe, is returning artefacts stolen from ancient Benin Kingdom more than a century and thirty years ago which politicians can discuss with respect to diversifying the economy as well as provide solutions to numerous difficulties facing Edo State and Nigeria at large.Worse still, can any parent boast of having or rearing children by his or her self as to scorn an expectant family?. In the same way, the German statesman Konrad Adenuar cited above once noted: “History is the sum total of things that could have been avoided”. For instance, the former governor of Kaduna State, Nasiru El-Rufai, once told foreign powers planning to interfere into the 2019 general election to jettison the plan otherwise they would leave in body bags.’Body Bag!’.
The expression “leave in body bags”, is not befitting of a serving governor in all ramifications. As if that was not enough, the current Senate President and former Governor of Akwa Ibom State Senator Godswill Akpabio, referred to the contribution of a fellow law maker Natasha Akpoti Uduaghau as a “Night Club Comment”.This was another sad commentary and bad public communication made by a public office holder of equal ranking with a fellow colleague, because all senators are equal and therefore, the remarks by Senator Akpabio was regrettable even though he had apologized for his unfortunate outburst. Denigration of any sort should not be an option in pilloring the women folk in public places.
In fact, elder statesman, Pa. Edwin Clark, recently called on the Inspector of Police and President Tinubu to arrest the minister of Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Chief Nyesom Wike, for saying he (Wike ) will put fire in the states of PDP governors and officials who want to interfer with his political structures in Rivers State.To put fire is ambiquous and has frightening implications. The Bible is apt and ever correct when in proverbs 15:1 noted that “Soft answer turns away wrath but grievous words stir up anger”. The remarks cited above traceable to public officials and leaders in public spaces show pride, selfishness, arrogance and are capable of igniting crisis, if not nibbed in the bud. In addition to the provision of infrastructure, elected leaders must learn the acts of engaging in public communication, speaking life and not hate speach to build society for the better.Jesus Christ speaks in John 6:63 thus: “The words I speak they are Life and Spirit”.
It is instructive to observe that before David killed Goliath in it is recorded in 1st Samuel Chapter 17:24 – 45, that Goliath was very insultive, boastful, denigrating the army of Israel at the battle field before a non-soldier in the person of David over powered him- Goliath. Pride, they say, goes before the fall of man. This is why leaders in positions of trust should retrace their steps and be mindful of the words they speak and transmit in communicating with the electorate,fellow polititicians or their party members to engender peace in the polity and promote peaceful co-existence in Rivers State and Nigeria at large. The time to act is now.
Baridorn Sika
Sika, is a public affairs analyst.