David Shiafu Parradang, a former
Comptroller-General of the Nigerian Immigration Service has revealed that former Minister of Interior, Abba Moro, broke
every rule of recruitment into the Immigration Service in the unfortunate March
15, 2014 recruitment exercise.
Parrandang, on Friday disclosed that though
he was the head of the immigration service at that time, he was not officially
informed of the recruitment exercise that turned tragic and resulted in the
death of 15 applicants.
Parrandang, who was testifying as first
Prosecution Witness, against Abba Moro and three others in their roles in the
recruitment exercise, said apart from not being officially informed of the
exercise, he only got to know about it through a newspaper advertorial.
The former Comptroller General also told
the court that the Ministry of Interior, headed then by Moro, did not follow
any procedure in the recruitment exercise.
“As regard to procedure, we have been
holding many exercises in the past, first we will collect applications, screen,
shortlist and then set up a date for examination of candidates in their states
of origin. After that we then mark papers and qualified candidates invited for
physical screening. This is to see whether candidates have height and other
requirements to enter paramilitary service. Then after that they will be
subjected to physical exercise like standing for hours and other rigours of the
job.
But all these were not followed in the 2014
exercise”, he said.
He continued: “With implication of funds,
we said when the Minister announced the date of the recruitment, we told him we
were not ready financially. We had no money to fund the exercise.
“We then communicated this to the
subcommittee on recruitment, and suggested whether the consultant that did the
online recruitment (fourth defendant), that was engaged by the Ministry can
fund the exercise. Based on that, the subcommittee wrote a letter to the
company that we did not have budget and asked if money collected by tne
consultant will be used to fund the excersise.
“I was told by the company that it’s not in
the agreement it signed with the Ministry and the money (N1,000 paid by each
applicant) was for online services only and the company was not required to
fund the recruitment.
“We came back to position zero and we
decided that it should be brought to the knowledge of the Minister, whether he
could convince the company to fund the exercise.
“The subcommittee submitted the report,
thereafter we waited for a reply, there was no response until the 14th of
March, a day to the exercise. I got a letter, written on the 13th March, that
arrangements have been concluded in respect of the recruitment on March 15 and
that we should inform states accordingly.
“I thereafter called the Secretary to the
board for money for my officers. He asked me to tell them to forward their
account numbers to him”, the former CG said.
However, the coordinators in each zone
later called to tell him, that they got N300, 000 each, which they complained
it will not be enough.
He said when he asked the Secretary to the
board where the money came from he was told it came from the consultant.
But when he protested that the money was
not enough for logistics like hiring of venue, ambulance to provide first aid,
he was told the exercise must go ahead.
Parradang also stated before the court that
"not too long after the exercise
started, I started getting calls that they were overwhelmed with the number of
applicants, and I advised them to seek help from sister security agencies and
keep me informed of further happening.
“Then on 16, while in Jos, I started
receiving calls, SMS of the happenings and I went back to Abuja immediately to coordinate. I
called them and asked them to back their complaints up with writing report. At
the end we had 15 deaths and 165 injured, according to report by DSS”,
Parrandang stated.
Speaking on the three slots given to the
deceaseds' siblings and those injured, which the then President Goodluck
Jonathan openly gave, the witness said it was later overruled by the board,
that said it was illegal.
“A year later, the President called us and
those injured and siblings of those who died, three slots were openly given to
each of them. Immediately after that, the President set up a presidential
committee for another recruitment exercise but the three slots to those earlier
given were not part of this fresh recruitment.
“The letters earlier given by the President
were withdrawn, the Ministry said it was an illegal recruitment”, he concluded.
The trial Judge Justice Nnamdi Dimgba later
adjourned till July 1 for cross examination of the witness.
Moro and three others were accused of
defrauding 675, 675 graduate applicants of about N675,675,000, having been made
to pay N1000 each as processing fees for 5,000 (five thousand) job openings.
The four defendants were also accused of
breaching the Public Procurement Act, No. 65 of 2007 in the award of the
contract for the organisation of the recruitment test to Drexel Tech Nigeria
Ltd.
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