The embattled Minister of the Interior, Abba Moro, has again apologised to Nigerians over the circumstances that led to the death of 16 people during the ill-fated recruitment exercise into the Nigerian Immigration Service held on Saturday, March 15, in eight centres across the country.
Moro said adequate arrangement was put in place by his ministry, the board and the NIS to conduct a credible electronic recruitment into the NIS in order to save the agency from the negative image of job racketeering which had plagued it over the years.
The minister stated this when he appeared before the Senate Committee on Interior, led by Senator Atiku Bagudu, probing the unfortunate recruitment exercise.
Moro said, “Mr Chairman and Distinguished Senators, we are deeply grieved and saddened about the way events turned out. We express our sincere regrets once again.
“However, permit me to state that our patriotic desire was the pursuit of a more honest, a more transparent, a more cost effective, a more efficient and equitable platform.
“We sincerely made appropriate and adequate preparations for a hitch-free exercise, but as most things in administrative and human conditions, the yield curve of expected outcome is mostly undefined.
“My heart goes out to the families of those who have lost their dear loved ones. I sincerely sympathise with those injured. I share in their grief. I share in their pains. May I at this juncture, assure you Distinguished Senators and Nigerians of my respect for the sanctity of human life.
“The loss of these young Nigerians, who are needed as a critical human resource factor for nation building is most regrettable. As the minister of interior, under whose purview this unfortunate exercise took place, I cannot abdicate my responsibility. The buck stops at my table.”
A permanent member of the board of civil defence, fire, immigration and prisons services, Mustapha Zakariya, and the Comptroller General of the Immigration Service, David Parradang, alleged that the unfortunate recruitment conducted by the NIS, was not approved by the board.
Zakariya, who said he had been a member of the board since 2008, also told the committee that the decision to hire the consultant that conducted the exercise was unilaterally taken by Moro, who is also the chairman of the board.