Day of Reckoning
The investigation of a former Minister of Interior, Abba Moro speaks to accountability in leadership, writes Shola Oyeyipo
Whereas in other climes, a minister in his capacity would have resigned, Moro initially flipped. He accused the victims of “impatience,” claiming that the deaths resulted because “they did not follow the laid down procedures spelt out to them before the exercise.”But he was later forced to succumb to national outcry that trailed the incident as well as his comment
Judging by recent developments, particularly the defeat of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) under former President Goodluck Jonathan, the former Minister for Interior, Mr. Abba Moro would have known that he who would still answer to certain developments under his watch, one of which was the Saturday, March 14, 2014, untimely death of 15 job seekers, who died during a nationwide recruitment test conducted by the Nigeria Immigration Service.
Seven people died in Abuja in the stampede that ensued in the poorly planned and executed recruitment exercise. Five persons died in Rivers State, which held at the Liberation Stadium, Elekahia, Port Harcourt, and in Benin, one pregnant woman who came to attend the recruitment exercise at the main bowl of Sam Ogbemudia Stadium was confirmed dead. Also in Minna, Niger State, at least three persons slumped and died in the stampede that ensued.
Whereas in other climes, a minister in his capacity would have resigned, Moro initially flipped. He accused the victims of “impatience,” claiming that the deaths resulted because “they did not follow the laid down procedures spelt out to them before the exercise.” But he was later forced to succumb to national outcry that trailed the incident as well as his comment.
The National Human Rights Commission Chairman and several other eminent Nigerians as well as labour unions, vehemently protested the recruitment exercise and called for Moro and then Comptroller General of Immigration, Mr. David Parradang’s resignations.
Among some prominent Nigerians, who lent their voices to calls for his resignation or sack were former presidential candidate in 1993 general elections, Alhaji Bashir Tofa; former Speaker of the House of Representatives, Hon. Aminu Tambuwal; Lagos human rights lawyer, Mr. Femi Falana; the current Kaduna State Governor, Mallam Nasir el-Rufai, former FTC Minister; Dr. Chidi Odinkalu, Chairman, Governing Council of the National Human Rights Commission; TUC President, Bobboi Bala Kaigama; Ayo Obe, former President, Civil Liberties Organisation (CLO) and about 53 others.
In a letter to Falana, who had asked the minister to reimburse the candidates, Mr. Moro maintained that he did not personally raise any money, and as such could not refund any.
Aside the fact that a lot of people felt that Moro hurriedly organised the ill-fated recruitment tests for the applicants to cover up the suspected fraud in the process, the uproar that followed the news of the deaths was further aggravated by the news that the hapless applicants paid the sum of N1, 000 as application fee.
Going by Moro’s position, the scam, which led to the death of the applicants in various recruitment centres across the country, involved fleecing over 520,000 Nigerian graduate applicants to the tune of N520 million.
Calling for Moro’s sack, the APC, which was then the main opposition party, lambasted the ruling PDP and the Jonathan leadership for taking so much from the jobless Nigerian youths while there were barely 5, 000 vacancies declared by NIS.
Though sources had it that some individuals very close to former president Jonathan shielded Moro from the government hammer, seven months after the tragedy, when he was talking about why he did not resign despite widespread call for it, Moro told journalists that, “The point at which we are now is not about resignation; that time has gone. “At the time, I think emotions were very high. I was in the eye of a storm.
“At that time, a lot of options was on the table…the issue is do you resign or do you stay to sort out the problem that has been created? I decided that staying and mopping up the mess caused by the lack of proper implementation of our plans.”
On Thursday, March 26, 2015 during a Senate Committee public hearing in Room 028 on the ill-fated national recruitment exercise into the Nigeria Immigration Service (NIS), where those accused of culpability walked in with confidence, it was the usual blame-trading and buck-passing by Moro and his crew.
A board member of the NIS since 2008, Dr. Zakariya Mustapha, told the gathering that the board was neither informed nor carried along in the March 15 recruitment exercise. For good measure, NIS Comptrollers in the states where the exercise took place that day also took turns to lampoon the strategy adopted for the exercise.
Parradang informed the gathering on how, in all his years of service, nobody had ever taken away the power of the NIS to recruit operatives of the service from levels 1-6. He then carefully detailed how the NIS board, of which he’s a member, was supposed to have approved the exercise but never even sat and how the minister ignored advice that because of logistic problems, the exercise should be postponed.
He dissociated the NIS from adverts placed in the media that the exercise would hold as scheduled on March 15 and insisted that the NIS was never the “driver” of the recruitment, but it simply complied with the Ministry of Interior’s directives as a uniform man, who obeys the last order.
In defence, Moro insisted that due process was followed and that the fatal turn of events was not envisaged as adequate preparations were made for the exercise. According to him, his true intention was to ensure discipline and transparency in the exercise which had been fraught with incoherence, favouritism, unequal opportunities and job racketeering in the past.
He detailed how the NIS got waivers to recruit for 2,050 posts in 2011 and another 4,556 in 2012 from the Office of the Head of the Civil Service of the Federation. Thereafter, approval was sought from the Federal Character Commission (FCC) but the process was stalled in December 2012, only to resurface in 2013.
Though it was gathered that the FCC attempted to stop the exercise that Saturday but was unsuccessful because the minister insisted that the public had been informed and so, it would be inhuman to cancel it once again.
Moro said four consultants: Messrs Pyrich Global Limited, Messrs Bosmos Infotech Limited, Messrs Rosebonny Technologies Limited and Messrs Drexel Technologies Limited bided for the job and the ministry’s procurement department at the end of the day chose Drexel as the preferred bidder after recommendations had been made to the Ministerial Tenders Board (MTB), in strict compliance with part VIII, Paragraph 45(3B) of the Public Procurement Act of 2007.
“On my assumption of office as minister, I took cognizance of the unprecedented challenges facing the recruitment processes, procedures and practice in the paramilitary services under the supervision of the ministry. Such experiences were characterised by incoherent procedures, favouritism, job racketeering and unequal opportunities among others and therefore, needed immediate attention.
“The noble task before me was to institute measures that would ease the application procedures, enthrone an open and transparent process, allow for equal opportunities, and institute a process for the engagement of qualified and deserving persons and also to ensure the reflection of federal character pursuant to applicable federal laws,” he explained.
No doubt Jonathan was touched by the disaster. When it was exactly 363 days after their deaths, he fulfilled his earlier promise by handing out N75m (N5m to each of the 15 deceased families) as well as employment letters to 35 family members of the dead victims.
Also, as a way to heal the pains of the grieving families, one Mr. Major Agbo, who spoke on behalf of the family of the former minister tendered apology to Nigerians over the death of the applicants, noting that if the consultancy firm had done a good job the incident would not have taken place.
He implored Nigerians to “Exercise patience to enable the investigation panel come out with findings as to what really went wrong. We know that no words, no matter how solemn, coming from the family will be enough to atone for these loss suffered by the immediate families of the deceased applicants but we will still beg for the understanding of Nigerians to enable the ministry carry out proper investigation into this tragedy and tell Nigerians what really went wrong.”
Good as the plea is, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has started investigating Moro. He would be expected to give concrete and acceptable answers to several questions, part of which are: How can consultants recruit for a paramilitary body? Were unemployed Nigerians supposed to pay in the first place and why take money from so many people when there are just a few vacancies available?
He would also explain if there was a subsisting order by the National Assembly for the minister to put the recruitment on hold and refund the N1,000 application fee collected from the job seekers, and why did he proceed with the recruitment before the order was rescinded? Why the minister through the Civil Defence Fire Prisons and Immigration Board (CDFPIB) would be conducting recruitment across all ranks when the normal rule is that the board jointly handles recruitment for Grade Level 8 upwards with the respective service management while management of the Service handles recruitment for Grade Level 7 down, regarded as junior officers?
Why is it that out of about a billion naira realised from application fees nothing was released to the NIS to mobilise for the recruitment tests nationwide?