If the Senate is to act by the testimonies of those who were invited to explain what they know about the recent tragedy that befell the aptitude test conducted by the Nigerian Immigration Service, then Minister of Interior, Abba Moro may be in for more troubles.
Those who testified before the Senate Committee on Interior on Thursday indicted the minister for shady practices and refusal to carry everyone along in the recruitment exercise, as they maintained ignorance of the entire exercise.
Between 16 and 19 applicants lost their lives as a result of the stampede that ensued during the exercise across the country; and many others sustained injury. There were further allegations of irregularities on the part of the immigration officers who supervised the exercise on 15th March 2014.
Comptroller-General of the Nigeria Immigration Service (NIS), David Parradang was first to dene any knowledge of the exercise, saying he did not know even when the test was being planned.
Parradang, who had been silent since the incident occurred, further said after becoming aware of the recruitment exercise through a newspaper advert, he advised the ministry on the best way to handle the exercise but his advice was turned down.
He said he got angry after reading the newspaper and he called all those who were supposed to know about the exercise, but they all denied any knowledge of it.
Parradang also said as against the norm of the supervising Board assuming control of the recruitment of senior cadre, the Immigration Service handled the recruitment of those in the junior cadre, while those who planned the recruitment (Moro, who is chairman of the Board and the firm) took over everything.
He said that in all his years in the service, no one had ever taken the right to recruit Cadre B officials away from the Service. He said that was why he protested very vehemently, adding that they could not stop the recruitment exercise because they became aware only when the plan had been concluded.
Confirming this, a member of the Board of the NIS, Mustapha Karim, in his testimony, denied knowledge of the recruitment plans and said nothing of the nature was ever discussed with him or at the meeting of the Board.
Karim maintained that he and his colleagues only knew of the exercise after they received a copy of the agreement reached between the ministry and Drexel Limited, the firm contracted to do the job and that the agreement was signed by Abba Moro.
He further disclosed that following the fact that the board was not consulted before Moro signed the agreement, he was sure that the second signature believed to have been signed by the former secretary of the board, Attahiru, could have been forged since the latter had told him in confidence that he never co-signed the agreement with the minister.
In his own testimony, Secretary of the Civil Defence, Fire, Immigration and Prisons Services Board, S. D. Tapgun said a total of N710m was recovered from 710,000 applicants who registered, according to Drexel Limited. But he disclosed that Drexel Limited and the Ministry of Interior only released N45m for the conduct of the test.
He said this figure could not be confirmed because the Board was handicapped.
He said the exercise was originally estimated to cost N201m but Drexel only released N45m, with the consultant claiming, via a letter, that the terms of agreement with the ministry did not include funding the recruitment exercise, but only online registration, so the amount was just a contribution.
Moro is yet to appear before the Senate Committee.
