NIS Tragedy: Jonathan Queries Interior Minister, Comptroller Of Immigration

Posted by African Examiner Featured, Latest Headlines, News Tuesday, March 18th, 2014

Unhappy with the deaths of young Nigerian job seekers last Saturday, March 15, 2014, President Goodluck Jonathan has tongue lashed the minister of internal affairs, Mr Abba Boro and the Comptroller General of the Nigeria Immigration Service (NIS) David Parradang.

The two officials were invited into the presidential villa Abuja and met with the president for several hours. A source close to the meeting said that the president queried them for poor handling of the recruitment exercise.

In the tragedy, African Examiner reports that 15 of the job seekers including six women, one of them pregnant died in the aftermath of the stampede that occurred at various recruitment centers.

Those who died are: 7 persons comprising five females and two males died in Abuja, 5 persons died in Port Harcourt, a pregnant woman died in Benin while 2 persons died in Minna.

Recall that many eminent Nigerians and civil societies have condemned the minister of internal affairs and his comments that those killed in the stampede died because they did not listen to instructions.

SERAP Drags FG To UN, Says the exercise violates Job-seekers’ Right

The Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP) has sent a petition to United Nations Secretary General, Mr Ban Ki-Moon, requesting him to use his office and leadership to publicly condemn and refer the unlawful deaths and inhuman and degrading treatment of job-seekers by the Nigerian government to the appropriate United Nations human rights bodies.

Among the human rights bodies mentioned in the petition are: the UN Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights and the Human Rights Council

The group said that, “we believe this is important to achieve international accountability of Nigeria for the violations of the human rights of the job-seekers. By doing this, the Secretary-General will be upholding the values and moral authority of the United Nations and sending a powerful message that the UN will not tolerate fragrant violations of human rights of Nigerians.”