Immigration tragedy: Moro may appear before Senate Tuesday

THERE were indications on Sunday that the Senate
Committee on Interior had invited the Minister of
Interior, Mr. Abba Moro, and the Comptroller
General of the Nigeria Immigration Service’s, Mr.
David Parradang, to appear before it on Tuesday
(tomorrow) over the NIS tragic recruitment two
Saturdays ago.
An aide to the Senate President, who spoke with
our correspondent on the condition of anonymity,
said that though there were pressures on his
principal from some elders in his state to save
Moro, he maintained that Mark would not interfere
in the probe process.
He said Mark would subject the report of the
committee to an extensive debate by the senators
before demanding for votes from members to
show his neutrality in the entire process.
“It is a known fact that the Interior Minister is from
the same state with the Senate President but that
does not mean he would not perform his legislative
duties to Nigerians,” the source said.
No fewer than 19 job seekers lost their lives during
stampedes that occurred in the various centres for
the NIS recruitment across the country.
The Senate had directed its Committee on Interior
to carry out a public investigative hearing on the
tragedy.
The Senate, presided over by the Deputy Senate
President, Ike Ekweremadu, had equally asked the
committee to submit report of its investigation
within one week with a view to unveiling and
recommending for prosecution those responsible
for the tragedy.
The Senate outrage and resolutions followed a
motion moved on the issue by the Chairman,
Senate Committee on Interior, Senator Atiku
Bagudu (PDP Kebbi Central), and 10 other senators
on Tuesday last week.
Meanwhile, a Presidency source on Sunday told
one of our correspondents in Abuja that it was
already clear to the President that Moro should
take responsibility for the avoidable loss of lives
and embarrassment to the administration.
The source said it was based on this conviction
that the President warned all ministers and heads
of government departments and agencies at the
last Federal Executive Council meeting, that he
would not hesitate to order the arrest and
prosecution of any of them under whose watch
such an incident recurred.
Moro’s fate, the source said, would be decided on
the President’s return from his current three-
nation trip, which he started on Thursday.
However, The PUNCH again learnt on Sunday that
the March 15 tragedy could have been averted if
only the Ministry of Interior had not ignored a
proposal by its steering committee on recruitment.
Investigations in Abuja indicated that the
committee headed by the Director/Secretary of the
Civil Defence, Fire, Immigration, and Prison Service
Board, S.D Tapgun, had recommended that the
recruitment exercise be shifted to either the last
weekend in March or second week in April, 2014
for proper arrangement to be made for a
successful exercise but that the ministry ignored
the suggestion.
The recruitment committee proposed that N5m
should be budgeted for hiring of ambulances and
buying of water. It also suggested that the exercise
be staggered to accommodate the huge number of
applicants, but these were not heeded.
At its last meeting held on March 7, 2014, the
committee reportedly raised a memo to the
minister on its recommendations, but it was
apparently ignored.
Further checks also revealed that the 16
committee members were drawn from the CDFIPB,
NIS, Ministry of Interior, and Drexel Tech Nigeria
Limited.
The membership included Tapgun, CDFIPB; Deputy
Director (A&P), CDFIPB, JaeI Kpatuvvak; Asst.
Director (Admin), CDFIPB, Okhamera A. I.; Asst.
Director (A&P) CDFIPB, Bello Torankawa; Asst.
Director (IMM) – CDFIPB, Hamid AbduII-Iamid;
Asst. Director (D&GP) – CDFIPB, Aduku, M. M; and
CIS (APU), NIS Oyedeji, T.V.
Others are Abubakar A. A. – interior ministry;
Chukwu O. C., – Rep. Asst. Director (F&A) –
CDFIPB; I. M. Makama – LA – CDFIPB; Nasiru
Yusuf -ICT Unit – CDFIPB; Shehu Mohammed –
Deputy Director (D &GP) – CDFIPB; Mukah O. S. -
Chief Admin. Officer (FFS); Theodore Maiyaki –
Drexel Tech.; Wiiiiam Butau – Drexel Tech. and
Abioye Bankole – Drexei Tech.
Further investigations showed that Parradang had
earlier written to the CDFIPB and kicked against
the recruitment exercise.
In the letter dated September 9, 2013, a copy of
which was obtained by The PUNCH, the CG
protested the decision of the board to recruit
personnel into the NIS without formally informing
him about it.
Part of the letter read, “I wish to draw your
attention to an advertisement which has just been
brought to my notice, calling for application of
suitably qualified persons for appointment into
Categories’ ‘A’ (Superintendent Cadre) and
‘B’ (Inspectorate Cadre) of the Nigeria Immigration
in today’s Daily Trust – Monday, September 9,
2013 on page seven (7)
“I wish to further state that this advertisement for
employment took me by surprise and the Agency
which I head (i.e. the Nigeria Immigration Service).
I am aware that the Civil Defence, Fire, Immigration
and Prisons Service Board Act CAP: 12, 2004
confers Powers of Appointment on the Board,
however the same Act equally delegates such
powers (i.e. recruitment) to the Services —
particularly recruitment into Category “B” , which
has been the case up till this moment.
“The said publication or advertisement for
appointment of persons into the Nigeria
Immigration Service without consultation or any
input whatsoever from us is to say the least,
surprising and embarrassing to me. I feel NIS
should be taken along in this issue regarding staff
recruitment into Category “B” in particular, which
is usually conducted and supervised by the
Service.”
The board in its reply dated October 29, 2013
apologised for not informing the CG about the
recruitment exercise and told him that the power
delegated to the service had not changed.
The letter signed by Tapgun, however, said the
recruitment would proceed and applications (for
junior personnel) that fell under the purview of the
NIS would be forwarded for action.
Our correspondent learnt that the contract for the
recruitment had been awarded to Drexel Tech by
the minister, before Parradang assumed office.