Senate withholds NIS recruitment tragedy report

Nine months after the Senate Committee on Interior submitted its report on the investigation of the March 15, 2014 tragedy that attended the recruitment by the Nigeria Immigration Service, the upper legislative chamber has refused to release the findings of the panel.

No fewer than 21 people reportedly died during the stampede that occurred at the NIS recruitment centres across the country.

The Minister of Interior, Mr. Abba Moro, who hails from the same local government area with the Senate President, David Mark, was widely accused of being responsible for the poor conduct of the nationwide aptitude test for the Nigerian job seekers.

The Senate on March 18, following persistent public outcry, directed its Committee on Interior to conduct a public hearing to unravel the remote and immediate causes of the stampede at the NIS recruitment centres.

The committee was to report back to the chamber within two weeks to enable it to take appropriate action that would discourage such recklessness during future exercises.

However, more than nine months after the committee, led by Senator Abubakar Bagudu, concluded investigations and submitted its report to the Senate, the leadership of the upper chamber had remained silent despite calls for deliberation on the report…