Immigration job test tragedy: Over 16 feared dead

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.
* Nigeria Immigration Service examinations
applicants at the 60,000 capacity National Stadium,
Abuja. Photo by Abayomi Adeshida
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 3.30p.m.
One of the applicants  at the centre, Abubakar Isah
Wada, told Sunday Vanguard, yesterday.
“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.
Poor crowd control
At the Liberation Stadium, Port Harcourt venue
where four applicants reportedly died, no fewer than
23, 000 sat for the test.
Some of the applicants blamed the incident on poor
crowd control. According to them, the 16,000
capacity stadium was relatively small to
accommodate the 23,000 that turned up for the
exercise.
They said security men had a hectic time controlling
the crowd of applicants. “Some applicants who were
finding it difficult to get into the stadium suddenly
started pushing their way through. Some persons
reportedly stepped on those who fell on the ground,”
an eye witness said.
According to him security men had to fire shots into
the air to stop those still outside from pushing to
get inside the stadium. ” More persons would have
died if the security men had not shot into the air.
The shot stopped those who were outside from
pushing in “, he stated.
Some of the applicants said they lost the originals of
their certificate during the commotion.
Sunday Vanguard gathered that a pregnant woman
was among those who died from exhaustion.
But the spokesman for the NIS in Rivers State, Mr
Bisong Abang, denied deaths during the stampede.
He however said those who sustained injuries were
treated by medics on ground, adding that those who
turned up for the screening exercise far exceeded
the number of applicants.
Some critical cases were rushed in an army
ambulance vehicle with registration number NA 307
EOI to hospital for medical attention.
Applicants were still being attended to by NIS
officials at the time our correspondent left the
stadium.
Examiner confused
At the Minna centre, four of the 11,000 applicants
were said to have died  while scrambling to gain
access into the examination hall.The candidates
had  reportedly been subjected to standing on the
queue for several hours while the chief examiner
was calling the applicants into the hall. It was learnt
that the candidates, having waited for hours and
becoming restless, started shunting which led to a
stampede leaving the examiners confused.
In an effort to bring orderliness, officers of the NIS
stationed at the Women’s Day Secondary School,
venue of the test, fired cannisters of teargas into
the crowd. This led to several of the applicants
falling down and trampled upon.Three of them were
reportedly confirmed dead. The remains of the
applicants, it was learnt, were deposited at the
Minna General Hospital. Contacted,Controller of
Immigration in Minna, Ezekiel Kaura, confirmed that
five people were rushed to hospital after the
stampede but could not confirm how many people
died. He also said 11,000 applicants were expected
to sit for the test.
Many of the 12,000 applicants, who sat for the
examination at the CAC Grammar School, Akure,
lost their certificates in the stampede that attended
the exercise.
Tragic town
The NIS recruitment exercise in Benin-City turned
tragic when a pregnant woman died at the Samuel
Ogbemudia Stadium Benin-city venue after
collapsing. About 20 others were said to have been
injured.
She reportedly died in a stampede. The 20,000
applicants who came from different states of the
South- south thronged  the stadium at about 5am
but it was learnt that screening could not start till
about 2:30pm.
Many of the applicants complained bitterly that the
exercise was poorly conducted and wondered why
people could be subjected to such inhuman
treatment.
PDP shocked by deaths
In the meantime, the Peoples Democratic Party,
PDP, yesterday, challenged government agencies,
as well as elected and appointed officials at all
levels to  redouble their efforts to curb
unemployment in the country, just as it described
the death of the NIS applicants as shocking and
unfortunate.
In a statement by the PDP National Publicity
Secretary, Chief Olisa Metuh, the party, while calling
for investigation into the remote and immediate
cause, said it was extremely grieved by the death of
the young Nigerians.