Impatience Led To Applicants’ Death – Minister

Minister of Interior, Mr. Abba Moro, has said 520,000 applicants participated in the Nigeria Immigration Service recruitment exercise across the country.

The minister, however, said only 4,556 would be recruited at the end of the exercise, based on the available space.

He said this in Jos, Plateau State capital on Saturday, while monitoring the exercise.

Moro said he learnt that seven people lost their lives at the National Stadium, Abuja, Niger and Lagos states, adding that two of the victims were female and five male.

He said, “The applicants lost their lives due to impatience; they did not follow the laid down procedures spelt out to them before the exercise. Many of them jumped through the fences of affected centres and did not conduct themselves in an orderly manner to make the exercise a smooth one. This caused stampede and made the environment unsecured.”

He stated that the Deputy Comptroller, Immigration Operations and Passport, told him that he cancelled the exercise in Lagos due to the unruly behaviour of applicants.

Meanwhile, the Peoples Democratic Party has said it was “extremely grieved” by the death of young Nigerians during the nationwide exercise.