In other societies where lives matter, Abba Moro, former Minister of Interior, would have been fired immediately after the 2014 Nigeria Immigration Service (NIS) recruitment tragedy in which 19 people died. As the minister under whose watch the tragedy occurred, Moro should have carried the can, but he passed the buck. He sought to use former NIS Comptroller-General (CG) David Parradang as scape goat.
There was nothing Moro did not do to ensure that Parradang became the fall guy. He accused Parradang of abandoning his job for a party in Jos, the Plateau State capital, on that fateful March 15, 2014 when the recruitment took place nationwide. Where was Moro himself that day? What was he doing where he was – monitoring the exercise? I doubt if he was anywhere near any of the centres for the exercise. Is it not expected that for such a huge exercise, the minister and the head of the agency should be in constant touch?
Was there such interaction between them to ensure that things went smoothly? There was not and this was why the tragedy happened. Both of them are guilty of failing in the discharge of their duties to the nation. But Moro should take the larger share of the blame as the supervisory minister of NIS. It does not speak well of his office that he would descend so low as to start blaming his CG for the tragedy when he too failed in the discharge of his statutory obligation. Moro, it seemed, was more interested in the multi-million naira contract for the recruitment than in ensuring that preparations for the exercise were hitchfree.
When the Board of Immigration Service, Nigeria Security and Civil Defence, Prisons and Fire Service appeared before the House of Representatives Committee on Public Accounts on March 19, 2014 over the matter, it blamed Moro for the tragedy. A Commissioner on the board, S.D Tapgun, said only Moro and the consultant he engaged for the exercise could tell Nigerians exactly what happened. He said Moro ignored their letter not to hire the consultant, adding that the CG was not “part of the recruitment at all”.
The consultant collected N1000 each from the over 520,000 applicants, who also bought tee shirts for N500 at their centres. The problem with our public officers has always been that of money. When money is involved in any deal, they will show more than a passing interest in it. Once they get the money, they will turn their backs on the project. Could it be that Moro became disinterested in the NIS recruitment after his consultants reported back to him on the money collected? In all good conscience why will he expect Parradang to monitor the exercise when the former CG was not aware of the preparations for it? Where is the money collected from the applicants – in the treasury or private pockets?
Another leader would not have wasted time in dealing with the matter. But former President Goodluck Jonathan pussyfooted. In his characteristic manner, he did nothing, waiting for the storm to blow over. That is the kind of leader we had; a see nothing and do nothing leader. Even when his country is burning, he will pretend as if all is well. Little wonder that Moro got away with the death of those poor guys. If we had a decisive leader then, Moro would not have stayed a minute longer in office after the tragedy. But what did we have? He served out his tenure until Jonathan lost the April 28, 2015 election to President Muhammadu Buhari. Moreover, those who should have pushed for Moro’s sack in the National Assembly were criminally silent over the matter. Moro was a protege of former Senate President David Mark, who pushed through his clearance at the Senate. With people in high places to watch his back, Moro was not brought to justice for the death of these young, promising Nigerians who only applied for jobs with NIS. Did they commit any offence by so doing to warrant their death in such a callous manner?
All calls for Moro’s sack were ignored by Jonathan. Instead, he left leprosy to treat ringworm. Since he knew his compatriots to be gullible, he promised members of the bereaved families jobs and N5 million compensation. To him, that was the end of the matter. The lost lives did not matter to him. The money and the jobs will settle everything, so he thought. He forgot that everything is not money. His action emboldened Moro, who rejected calls for his resignation and also had the temerity to blame the victims for the stampede that led to their death. ‘’They failed to obey instructions’’, he said, alleging that some unauthorised persons came to the centres to cause problems. Adding insult upon injury, he declared: ‘’I will set up a probe panel’’.
See who wanted to probe who! The person that should be tried, saying he would probe those, who out of desperation for work, subjected themselves to harsh conditions in order to be employed. Is that an offence? The offender suddenly became the complainant in order to save his own neck. His ploy worked with Jonathan, who instead of punishing him allowed him to be. All we heard was that the former president told him in private that ‘’I am highly disappointed with your performance. I cannot tolerate this’’. And the matter ended there.
In 19 days, it will be two years since they died. It is painful that the Jonathan administration carried on as if nothing tragic happened on March 15, 2014. If Jonathan had returned to power, by now, everything about the case may have been forgotten. What is more, Moro too may have returned with him, if no longer as interior minister, but still as a member of the cabinet. His retention would have been Jonathan’s way of paying him back for a job well done as if the death of those job seekers is a good thing!
But the day of reckoning is here for Moro. He will soon get his just deserts long after he thought he had gone scot-free. Thank God, we now have a Pharaoh who knows no Joseph in power. This is why Moro is being called upon to account for what happened in 2014. Though it is rather late in the day, but I do not think it is too late to do justice to the memories of the dead. Their families have suffered for long in silence. What is happening now is heartwarming and reassuring to Nigerians that though the wheels of justice grind slowly, they grind finely. Let Moro take his stand in the dock and tell Nigerians all he knows about the Immigration recruitment tragedy. This is also a lesson to all of us that no matter the office we occupy today there is always a tomorrow when we will give account of our stewardship.
There is nothing we do today that we will not account for tomorrow. Moro’s tomorrow has come and it is left for him to give a good account of himself or face the consequences of his actions.
NATION
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