Jonathan set to give N75m to families of Immigration recruitment tragedy

President Goodluck Jonathan on Friday handed out a total of N75 million (N5million each) as well as letters of  employment letters into the Nigeria Immigration Service (NIS) to families of the 15 job seekers who died a year ago in the tragic immigration recruitment test.

 A total of 35 beneficiaries  - three from each family – were handed the employment letters by the President while the N5m cheques were handed out to the respective next of kin by the Head of Federal Civil Service, Danladi Kifasi, at the Presidential Villa, Abuja.

This was in line with the promise made by the President last year after the stampede in various stadiums across the country where the deceased had gone to participate in the botched recruitment.

Speaking shortly after handing out the employment letters and cheques to the families of the deceased, the President promised that such incidents would not recur even as he condoled once more with families of the victims.

His words: “I promise this country that such will not happen again. This will be the last of such things”.

The President said the monies given to the families of the deceased should not be seen as compensation because it could not replace the lives lost.

The Comptroller-General of the Immigration Service, David Paradang, told journalists that out of the 45 candidates, ten had to be replaced because they did not meet the criteria of the service but we’re asked to send new nominees.

He also explained that some of the beneficiaries who are graduates were employed as Assistant Superintendent, those with National Certificate of Education (NCE) were employed as Assistant Inspectors while those with the West African school certificate (WASC) were employed as Immigration Officers 3.

The service has currently resumed the employment exercise. Paradang said the service intends to recruit a total of 2,000 officers, minus the already taken 45 slots.

Minister of Interior, Abba Moro said the government regarded the incident as an act that was not planned for.

He said those wounded in the exercise will not be forgotten as they would be included in the second phase of recruitment which is ongoing till May.

Daily Independent