by Akan Ido

There are indications that a lack of cooperation between the Minister of Interior, Abba Moro and the Comptroller-General of the Nigerian Immigration Service, David Parradang may have contributed to the unfortunate stampede last Saturday killing about 20 job applicants.

Reports say there have been a tug of war between the two personalities bordering on who should conduct the recruitment exercise. The Interior Minister was said to have assumed the responsiblity of organising the exercise while the NIS boss was of the view that the Service should be in charge.

The ministry later resolved to hand over the organisation of the recruitment exercise to Drexet Tech Global effectively excluding the NIS from the process.

Read the Punch report below:

Ministry officials, who should know about the consultant, said that not much information was released on the deal.

“Look, nobody really knew anything about this consultant. All we were told was that it was one man or one woman. It didn’t go beyond that. Honestly, I really can’t tell,” a ministry source said in response to enquiries by The PUNCH.

It was learnt that while the minister delegated the NIS boss to ensure the smooth conduct of the ill-fated recruitment, Parradang in turn was said to have delegated  a deputy comptroller to preside over the exercise in Abuja.

It was learnt that while over one million applicants besieged the centres across the country, both the minister and the NIS boss were in Jos felicitating with the Governor of Plateau State, Jonah Jang, who celebrated his 70th birthday in Jos on Saturday.

A source told one of our correspondents that Moro was taken aback when he saw Parradang at the venue of the governor’s birthday on the date of the exercise.

It was learnt that Parradang had reasoned that he had to be physically present at the event because Jang played a major role in his emergence as the CG of the NIS.

Efforts to get the NIS Public Relations Officer, Emeka Obua, failed as our correspondents could not reach him on his mobile phone.

But a source in the NIS confirmed that Parradang had advised the minister that the exercise should be conducted in batches, but Moro refused.

However, the Special Assistant to the minister on media, Mr. George Ubong, said that it was not true that the minister hijacked the exercise from the comptroller general.

Ubong said that the CGI, the Director of the Board and other stakeholders were part of the exercise.

He said that advertorials and radio jingles were placed in media houses after meetings were held and the date for the exercise was picked.

He said, “The minister never hijacked the exercise; I can tell you that the CGI, the Director of the Board and other stakeholders were part of the exercise.

“Meetings were held and there are minutes of the meeting, and there was an agreement as to what newspapers and radio houses to place advertorials and jingles. Also don’t forget that the CGI granted an interview after leaving the National Assembly to announce when the exercise was to hold.”