Nigerian Immigration Service: Graveyard of the jobless

If you ever wondered why some patriots can never stop getting angry at Nigeria, why it has become second nature for them to be sad and mad at the way we conduct our affairs in this country, last Saturday’s avoidable tragedy provided another important reason.

At least 16 job seekers died as a result of  stampedes that occurred at some recruitment centres across the country. Many of those that were injured knocked at heaven’s gate before they were mercifully turned back. The tragic 16, and the hordes that suffered varying degrees of injuries, were part of the half a million graduates that the Nigerian Immigration Service, a parastatal of the Ministry of Interior, invited for an interview to fill 5,000 vacancies.

Did you notice the ratio? 5000:500,000! How’s that for a maths class? That is, five people for 500 positions. Or, one to 100.

The resultant effect of this alarming ratio is that, for the exercise, more people ended up being herded into spaces too small to contain them. For instance, The Guardian quoted the Education Rights Campaign, a not-for-profit organization, as saying that at least 65,000 people were crammed into the Abuja National Stadium, a 60,000- capacity facility, for the interview. Seven applicants died there.

They either suffocated to death or were trampled. The situation, other reports revealed, weren’t any different from Abuja’s.
Now, the question is  with our legendary affinity for ad-hoc preparations, and our renowned track record in bad management of big events as this, wouldn’t it have been strange if the exercise had gone without any incident? It would have been a miracle. And rather than admit his ministry’s mistakes on this avoidable disaster, what did Minister Abba Moro say? He said the tragic 16 “lost their lives through their impatience.”

Haba Moro!
You now see another reason why those patriots who sincerely love Nigeria cannot stop fulminating.
In the name of all that is good and noble, when would government officials learn to weigh their words or rein-in their tongues in moments like this? Why would people like Moro not shut their traps or carefully choose their words at a time like this when the nation is hurting? For six solid days, I waited to hear, see or read the Minister debunk the statement. The rebuttal never came. Rather than keep his mouth shut over the avoidable tragedy, he rubbed hot pepper into the injuries of the bereaved families with his reckless declaration. How insensitive some fellows can be.

The truth that Minister Moro and his colleagues ran from is that his ministry formulated and prepared the recipe for the disaster. First, the ministry knew that it needed only 5,000 people to fill the existing vacancies. So, why invite half a million?

Even so, after making up its mind on the figures, what iron-cast arrangement was made to forestall the disaster? In these modern times when technology has redefined the way people and governments in saner societies do business, why couldn’t the ministry anticipate all kinds of scenarios that could play out at the centres with the huge population that flooded them last Saturday? Couldn’t the ministry think of some scientific ways of conducting the exercise without putting people’s lives in jeopardy? If they must interview such a huge crowd, why couldn’t the service do so online?
Having spent a large chunk of my working life in the federal civil service, I know the importance of overseas trainings.

If well organized, and the beneficiaries faithfully attend, such programmes naturally enhance productivity and improve service delivery. Therefore, I often scoff when I hear people say overseas trainings have been turned to conduit pipes that smart Alecs in the service use in fleecing tax-payers’ money.

However, if you look at the way government business is conducted these days, you would have no choice but to agree with the pessimists.

Let the truth be told, the Ministry of Interior’s shoddy preparation, rather than the so-called “impatience” of the applicants, sent those 16 promising souls to their premature graves. Our lusterless system killed them. Period.

In any case, why would the youths not be impatient? Why would they be patient in the face of hunger and deprivation? Why would they be patient when five, six years after some of them have graduated, they still live in their fathers’ houses; their parents still feed them, two or three times daily? Why should they be patient when they scrounge the streets from sunrise to sunset, looking for jobs that are not there?
Why would they be patient, when their beloved country is Africa’s largest economy, and the sixth largest producer of oil in the world, yet, they tread the famished road every day? Why would they be patient when all they see around them, on daily basis, is the brazen looting of their commonwealth? Why would they be content with fading or forlorn hope? When hope becomes a mirage?  When people old enough to be their fathers would not retire from service when the law stipulates but would swear affidavit upon affidavit so they can occupy their seats for as long as possible?

Let the truth be told, the youth of Nigeria, who are suppressed and are increasingly depressed by the day cannot but get impatient.  For them not to get impatient, their country must give them hope. Their country must provide opportunities. Their country must assure them that recruitment centres will never again become the graveyard of the jobless.

These are the sine qua non, the necessary conditions that can make them contented, happy and patient. Anything less will make them hungry. And like Governor Emmanuel Uduaghan of Delta State observed in a lecture he delivered at the Institute of Directors, Pall Mall, London, upper Tuesday, which I attended, when they are hungry, they will be angry. And when they are angry, they will turn violent.

So, Nigerian youths must be given opportunities to feed well so that they don’t become hungry. And when they are not hungry, they won’t become angry. And when they are not angry, they won’t violent. And when they are not violent, we will all sleep with our two eyes closed.

Meanwhile, Minister Moro and his colleagues must beg the bereaved families of the tragic 16, and, indeed, Nigerians for forgiveness on their carelessness, and his recklessness on the matter.