A former Minister of Education, Mrs. Oby Ezekwesili, has condemned the Federal Government’s plan to compensate families of those who lost their relatives in the tragic Nigeria Immigration Service recruitment exercise.
No fewer than 18 people had been reported dead in the exercise which held nationwide on Saturday, March 18, 2014.
Sequel to the tragedy, the Federal Government had directed that three employment slots be created for families that lost their relatives during the exercise, while those injured were also said to have been allotted automatic employment spaces.
Ezekwesili, who said the exercise was the “most outdated form of recruitment process” also, described the compensation plan as “contemptuous of the citizenry and job seekers in Nigeria.”
The former Vice President of the World Bank Africa division made the remarks while fielding questions from journalists at the post-conference meeting of a youth empowerment summit organised by the Deeper Christian Life Ministry on Saturday at the Deeper Life Conference Centre, Ogun State.
Ezekwesili, who had addressed about 100,000 youths at the summit on ‘Skills for Excellence and Employability in the Modern World’, also wanted adequate punishment for the ministry and agency that organised the recruitment exercise.
She said, “That recruitment exercise was the most outdated form of human resources recruitment process. Even in the Stone Age, you cannot wish to employ 3,000 or even 10,000 people and then have an examination for more than 500,000.
“But it seems to me that that recruitment process was not a recruitment process, but a scam. It was mostly targeted at getting the N1,000 administration fees from the candidates. I cannot imagine that you are planning to have exam for over N500,000 people in order to select 3,000. So, it was a scandalous demand.
“I think there is something that has happened that is contemptuous of the citizens of the land. The government should have responded in a way that brings back the dignity of the families that lost their people, and it is not by giving them jobs. You don’t have to die or expose yourself to danger before you can get employment in our society.”
The convener of the summit, Pastor William Kumuyi, in one of his sermons, urged the participants to be ready to pay the price of a significant life, which could be costly, but not inaccessible.
“The significant life is not cheap, just as it is not inaccessible. There is a price to be paid. As a student, you need to be studious, teachable, understanding, disciplined, expectant, noteworthy and transformed. Nothing good comes easy,” he said.
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