Jonathan warns ministers, cancels NIS recruitment
President
Goodluck Jonathan on Wednesday read the Riot Act to ministers and heads
of government departments and agencies to desist from organising fatal
exercises similar to the one conducted by the Nigeria Immigration
Service on Saturday, under the guise of recruiting staff.
The President said any sloppy minister,
whose carelessness caused the death of citizens, would henceforth be
arrested and prosecuted for manslaughter.
Jonathan reportedly issued the threat
during the Federal Executive Council meeting in Abuja. Sources at the
meeting said discussion centred mainly on the tragic NIS recruitment
during which 19 applicants died.
One of the sources told our correspondent
that the President spoke after he had asked the embattled Minister of
Interior, Mr. Abba Moro, to brief the council on the circumstances that
led to the death of the applicants.
The source said that while Jonathan was
silent on whether Moro was culpable and would be punished or not, he
warned that all government officials must ensure that such unfortunate
incident did not occur again in the country.
“The council meeting was devoted to the
tragedy. The President started by asking the Minister of Interior to
brief the council on the circumstances that led to the incident. The
visibly angry President thereafter warned ministers and the heads of
departments and agencies that he would henceforth order that any of them
who conducted such a fatal exercise be arrested and tried for
manslaughter,” the source said.
The President had reportedly queried Moro
and the Comptroller-General of the NIS, Mr. David Parradang, on Monday,
asking for an explanation over the Saturday’s incident when 19
potential recruits to the NIS died in the stampede that occurred at the
overcrowded venues of the screening across the country.
Minister of Information, Mr. Labaran Maku, confirmed to State House correspondents that the meeting was devoted to the tragedy.
Maku said the President directed that
three employment slots be reserved for the families of those who died
during the exercise nationwide. He said one of the three beneficiaries
must be a female.
The minister added that Jonathan also
directed that all those who sustained injuries and were receiving
treatment in hospitals be given automatic employment in the immigration
service.
Maku said the President also ordered the
cancellation of the ill-fated exercise and set up a committee to be
headed by the Chairman of the Federal Civil Service Commission, Mrs.
Joan Ayo, to conduct a fresh exercise.
Members of the committee, according to
the information minister, are the Comptroller-General of NIS, Mr. David
Paradang; a representative of the Inspector-General of Police; the
Commandant-General of the Nigerian Security and Civil Defence Corps;
Comptroller-General of the Nigerian Prisons Service; the
Director-General of the State Security Service; and the Corps Marshal of
the Federal Road Safety Commission.
Maku did not answer questions on the fate of Moro and on whether applicants’ N1, 000 registration fee would be refunded.
“I have only told you what the President
announced during the council meeting,” he responded to further enquiries
on Jonathan’s directives.
He however confirmed that Jonathan had
instructed MDAs to desist from organising sloppy exercises as did the
NIS in order to avert a similar tragedy.
Maku said, “The President has also
directed that as soon as he returns from his trip abroad he will meet
the families of the deceased to express his personal condolences to them
over the sad tragedy that took place on Saturday.
“He instructed all MDAs never to embark
on an exercise of this nature in recruiting people into the public
service because what happened could have been avoided. So, Mr. President
directed that no one outside the armed forces and the police, who
usually recruit people through such an exercise, that no other MDA is
allowed to embark on this kind of exercise that we witnessed on
Saturday.
“All of us expressed our regrets about
what happened; our hearts go out there to the families of the deceased.
This nation is fully behind them, the grief is not their own, the grief
is that of all Nigerians and is the grief of the government and the
people of Nigeria. “We regret it and we pray for the repose of the souls
of those who have departed.
“Council noted that it is regrettable
that this took place at a time that every effort was being made by
government to increase spaces available for employment. For example last
year, we were able to get 1.6 million employed in the various sectors
of the economy and the public service.
“However, the incident that took place is
so painful and we will not want to see in this country young job
seekers losing their lives in the process of seeking for jobs after
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