By Oghenekevwe Laba
LAGOS MARCH 18TH (URHOBOTODAY)-The National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS) Zone B has expressed anger over the death of applicants during the immigration aptitude test calling for the immediate sack of Minister of Interior, Mr. Abba Moro and the Controller of Nigerian Immigration, David Parradang.
In a statement signed by the Public Relation Officer (PRO) NANS Zone B, Comrade Pedro Obi made available to URHOBOTODAY, the students who said they were still in total shock and disoriented over the incident pointed out that the turnout of millions of Nigerian youths as job seekers for a mere 3,000 job slot in the Nigerian Immigration Services is another attestation of the present pathetic situation facing Nigerian youths and graduates.
“The death of innocent Nigerians and the numerous injuries recorded at the National Stadium, Abuja and other parts of the country is an axiomatic representation of civil servants inability to handle even a mere recruitment screening exercise, how much more of effectively handling the offices they have been manning for the past years.
“In as much as we believe that the administration of His Excellency, Dr. Goodluck Ebele Jonathan (GCFR) is committed in bridging the youth unemployment gap in the nation, we at NANS are still confused at how Mr. President intends to achieve this,” the students queried, adding that the recent turnout recorded at the immigration job screening centers, Nigerian student, from basic to university level would not only be skeptical of their future but will equally be making out second plans on economic survival knowing already that there is no decent job waiting for them in the country called Nigeria.
The students maintained that the recent charade called screening in the Nigerian Immigration Service is a clear confirmation that the Nigerian Immigration Services chiefs and in extension the Minister of Interior Affairs, Hon. Abbah Moro, have failed in their primary duty to provide an enabling environment for all applicants to participate in the aptitude test without pandemonium.
“NANS see no reason why the applicants could not be shared or rather split into batches to avoid such ugly incidence, knowing full well the number of applications recorded for the exercise. It is just another show of shame and failure in the usual style synonymous with the Nigerian civil servants. There are also rumours of each applicants paying one thousand Naira (N1000) for this job as part of processing fees. NANS wish to know why and how such monies will be spent knowing full well that over one Billion Naira (N1Billion) must have been received if a million persons had applied alone as rumoured,” the statement alleged.
Consequently, NANS called on the Federal Government to carry out a thorough investigation into the ugly incidence to forestall future occurrence, stressing that the Nigerian youths and the Nigerian students in particular would not take it likely with any of such agencies who fails in its duty to the Nigerian people in the future.