by Kolapo Olapoju

Today, Sunday, March 15, makes it exactly a year since the ill-fated Nigeria Immigration Service recruitment exercise which claimed the lives of about 18 Nigerian youth and left hundreds wounded.

Minister of Interior, Abba Moro, for some reason, managed to get away with the gross ineptitude that marked the exercise under his watch,- and 12 months later, he’s still in the role, unscathed.

When the incident occurred, many Nigerians called for him to be sacekd from the job, but Moro survived, and a year after, he remains a Minister.

Below, we chronicle 7 notable things he’s been up to since the tragedy he oversaw 365 days ago:

 

I. March 2014

Following the apparent delay in Abba Moro releasing an apology to Nigerians, his family took the bull by the horn and apologised on his behalf.

A statement by Moro’s family said: “We strongly share this moment of grief and pains with the immediate families of all those who lost their lives during the ill-fated recruitment exercise and beg Almighty God to comfort all parents, brothers, uncles and siblings of the deceased applicants while asking Him to give them eternal test in His bosom.”

“We know that no words, no matter how solemn, coming from the family will be enough to atone for these loss suffered by the immediate families of the deceased applicants but we will still beg for the understanding of Nigerians to enable the ministry carry out proper investigation into this tragedy and tell Nigerians what really went wrong.”
II- April 2014
Reacting to immense pressure and public criticism, Abba Moro eventually took responsibility and apologised for the failed recruitment exercise three weeks after the stampede.

“I think that I will ordinarily ask Nigerians for understanding in this matter, understanding the intention, understanding the motive behind the whole thing of an open, transparent recruitment exercise. For me, it is a personal loss because the exercise, in the first place, took place within the Ministry of Interior, organised by the Ministry and its services and so whatever consequences, positive or negative, that have come and in this instance, negative, I, as the Minister of that Ministry, under whose purview this exercise took place, where people lost their lives, certainly take full responsibility.”

“I want to say repeatedly that the death of these young Nigerians who would have added value to human resource asset of this nation is highly regrettable. And for the families, I insist that my heart goes out to them because I am a father too.”

 

 

III. October 2014

While speaking on a Channels TV’s breakfast programme, in October 2014, Abba Moro declaed to Nigerians that he would not resign, vowing to remain in office and tackle the scandal created by the shoddy recruitment exercise.

He said: “The point at which we are now is not about resignation. That time has gone. At the time (people were calling for his resignation), I think emotions were very high. I was in the eye of a storm.”

 

 

IV. November 2014
In November, after the heat on him had relatively subsided, Abba Moro got back his mojo.

He threatened the contractor handling the Koton-Karfe medium Prison to complete the project in two weeks or risks termination of the contract.

A week before then, 144 inmates had managed to escape from the prison.

A mean-looking Moro had tolg journalists: “Given the level of work that have been done here and given the circumstances at which we found ourselves, I have given out the ultimatum of two weeks within which the contract for this medium prison should be completed.”

 

 

V. December 2014

As election season neared and conversation on his grand failure mellowed, Abba Moro found his voice, and began to use it for his master’s cause.

In December, he stated that President Goodluck Jonathan deserves to be re-elected, as this will enable him take his transformation agenda for the country to a logical conclusion.

Moro had said: “For the first time in the history of Nigeria, we have seen a president who introduced transformation agenda and is also committed to achieving it to the fullest.”
VI. January 2015

At the beginning of the year, Abba made the news again, when he stated that Nigeria’s borders will not be closed unless there is concrete evidence of threat to National interest and security.

At the time, Moro had said: “You need to know that closure of borders has wider implications than looking at it from sectional implications of proliferation of arms and light weapons. Borders are the routes through which commercial activities take place between countries. Borders provide vital links for political interactions between countries and so I have insisted before and I want to repeat here that borders are not just closed on the basis of emotional outburst arising from isolated insistences of, say, attacks across the border.”

“Borders are closed after due diligence must have been observed, after intelligence must have been properly analysed and the implications properly weighed against the overall interest of the country.”
VII. Late January 2015

Towards the end of the first month of the year, due to the incessant prison breaks under his watch, Moro said the federal government was planning to introduce the e-prison system in order to put an end to the situation.

His assurance had read: “We are committed to make the prisons one of the best from structure to infrastructure. The ministry inherited a prisons system that was nearly comatose hence it has taken steps to rehabilitate prisons.”

“Presently new structures are under construction in various states including Yobe, Ibadan, Kwara, Nnewi among others and before the end of this administration this projects will be commissioned.”