UNEMPLOYMENT ,THE NIGERIA EXPERIENCE,CURSORY INTO IMMIGRATION RECRUITMENT TEST THAT WITNESSED DOZENS OF DEATH AND LOSSES Over 125,000 applicants in Abuja and Lagos alone chasing 4,500 jobs! 16 feared dead in the scramble. Thousands fainted from stampede and exhaustion. Many more applicants thronged the remaining 35 states of the federation. These casualty figures from the recruitment test centres of the National Immigration Service (NIS), held across the country, yesterday, told the story of Nigeria’s frightening unemployment situation. In Lagos and Abuja alone, 56,000 and 69,000 applicants respectively sat for the job test. Thousands of others took the exercise in other state capitals. NIS allegedly raked N6billion from the applicants as processing fee. Each applicant paid N1,000. At the National Stadium, Abuja, which was the centre for the Federal Capital Territory, FCT, eight applicants were reported dead. Four others were feared dead at the Port Harcourt, Rivers State centre, three in Minna, Niger State and one in Benin-City, Edo State. Unconfirmed reports claimed the Benin-City victim was a pregnant applicant. Stampede was reported in Akure where 12,000 were invited for the test. Thousands of certificates were allegedly lost at the Ondo State centre. At the Abuja centre, the thousands of applicants were overwhelmed with emotions as eight of their colleagues were allegedly taken to the mortuary. About 50 were said to have fainted and several others injured. The tragedy, it was learnt, happened in the morning when the crowd of applicants was trying to gain entry into the test venue. The test eventually started around 3.30pm “Government is not treating unemployed youths well. Due to this disorganised nature of our country and lack of discipline, some persons died this morning and several fainted,” Wada said. “Government needs to recognise the plight of unemployed graduates and not waste time and money on issues that are not important to the development of this country”. Another applicant said: “Immigration (NIS) should have divided the applicants and run this test on different days rather than bringing all of us here like this to pass through this suffering. If President Jonathan really wants to come back in 2015, this is his ticket”. At the National Hospital, Abuja, the Director of Management Information, Mr Tayo Haastrup, confirmed the death of seven persons and 40 sustaining various degrees of injuries in the stampede at the recruitment venue. My question is...Who is to blame for this tragedy..Govt or impatient youths... Your honest comments please... .............................................. For those of us who may wish to join us and make good income as a distributor for a reputable information company, inbox us for details...Highlight on How it all started in my country and message us...Bless you...
Posted on: Mon, 17 Mar 2014 04:48:15 +0000