Nineteen Nigerian job seekers who left their homes to sit for the Nigerian Immigration Service recruitment examination on Saturday, March 15, 2014 died. They were trampled to death. Scores were also seriously injured.
According to investigation, over 560,000 Nigerians who paid an application fee of N1, 000 each applied for about 4,000 NIS vacant positions and were all made to sit for the exams at different venues on the same day.
At the last count, tragedy occurred in the Federal Capital Territory, Port Harcourt, Minna, Gombe and Benin, venues of the examination. In Abuja, over 60,000 applicants turned up for the recruitment test at the National Stadium.
Investigations revealed that despite the huge turnout of candidates for the tests, there were no adequate safety arrangements to cater for emergency.
No adequate safety arrangement at Akure centre
The Nigeria Immigration Service employment examination which was conducted last Saturday in Akure, Ondo State, held without the provision of emergency and safety facilities for the applicants.
About 12,000 applicants thronged the CAC Grammar School field, Ondo Road on Saturday to participate in the exercise.
Although nobody died at the centre, some candidates’ certificates were destroyed as a result of some pushing and shoving while a few candidates sustained bruises.
Hamza, one of the applicants who wrote the exam, said there were no ambulances or any first aid facility provided to tackle any emergency.
He said, “Only God exempted us from experiencing what other centres experienced. We managed to survive it.”
Spokesman for the Nigeria Immigration Service in Ondo, Mr. Salami, said although medical personnel and ambulances were not visible at the venue, they were actually on standby somewhere and would have been deployed if the situation had demanded.
He said, “There were no casualties in Akure. We did all we could to ensure the safety of everyone and that is why we did not have any problem.
“You may not have seen any ambulance, but if there was a need, we would have been up to the task.”
Only one ambulance in Minna, no doctor
In Minna, Niger State, only one ambulance was provided at the Girls’ Day Secondary School where the exercise took place.
Our correspondent gathered at the state command of the NIS that although the Nigerian Red Cross Society was fully present, there were no doctors or medical personnel at the venue of the exercise.
Ironically, despite the stampede that claimed two lives and left several others injured, some wounded applicants still returned to the venue to write the examination.
It was gathered that the fate of those who could not leave the hospital to write the examination was unknown by the Niger State command of the NIS.
A senior officer of the NIS who pleaded anonymity said, “There was nothing the Service could do because there was no second chance after the set date of examination. Some of those who sustained minor injuries and those who felt they were okay came back and wrote. It was just unfortunate that things went that way.”
The Public Relations Officer of the Command, Mallam Umar Nakorji, confirmed that those in the hospital who responded to treatment went back to the venue to write the examinations.
It was confirmed that 11,200 candidates applied for the recruitment examination in Minna centre but over 20,000 turned up for the tests which eventually hampered the NIS efforts to control and curtail the crowd.
Nakorji said, “We had the Nigerian Red Cross Society and an ambulance stationed for any eventuality. We tried to protect the applicants but they outnumbered us. Some were threatening that if they didn’t get in, nobody would write the exam.
“As I am talking to you, we still have so many credentials, documents and identity cards of applicants that are yet to be claimed. It was difficult for us to really say this or that person did not apply because they all came with acknowledgement slips.”
He added that the fate of those who could not write the examinations would be decided by the National Headquarters, adding “I cannot guarantee anybody because once an examination ends, there is absolutely nothing anyone can do about it. Despite the stampede, the exercise held. We started by checking their physical fitness and other physical challenges before the main examinations. It was at this point that some people started pushing and things got out of hand. Nobody fired tear gas, it is not true. The stampede caused the tragedy.”
He spoke before President Goodluck Jonathan on ordered the cancellation of the exercise on Wednesday.
Nakorji informed our correspondent that the State Command of the NIS had compiled a comprehensive report on the incident, saying that “we have filed our reports to the headquarters through the Zonal Office. We have taken up the medical bills of the hospitalised; more bills are still coming because there are those we need to capture.”
Meanwhile, the corpses of the two candidates that died at the Minna centre have been released to their families for burial.
In Ilorin, inadequate ambulances for huge crowd
Candidates that sat for the recruitment test in Kwara State on Saturday expressed divergent opinions on the safety measures, adopted by the NIS command during the test.
According to the Public Relations Officer, NIS, Kwara State Command, Mr. Daniel Adeyemi, about 22,000 candidates sat for the test.
Many of the candidates who spoke with our correspondent in Ilorin on Tuesday lauded the command for its safety arrangements. They maintained that there was no casualty unlike in some other states.
However, other candidates said better arrangements should have been provided by the command.
Some of the candidates said the command provided three ambulances and some medical personnel at the venue. They added that though the large turnout of the candidates appeared difficult to manage, the command was able to manage the crowd.
But other candidates claimed that the number of the ambulances and medical personnel was inadequate for the mammoth crowd that came for the test. They also complained that some of them had no seat and had to stand under the sun while taking the examination. According to them, they were subjected to unbearable stress.
But the Comptroller, NIS, Kwara State Command, Mr. Ahamefule Nwachukwu, said the exam was well organised and maintained that nobody died in the centre during the exercise.
“There was no casualty in our centre. We decided that everybody that came for the test could take the examination. The sports complex of the University of Ilorin was filled up. Those who could not be accommodated inside were outside and we had enough security men that attended to them.
“We had no casualty. We had ambulances from government, from prisons and from the Federal Road Safety Corps. And we never used the three ambulances because there was no casualty. Kwara is one of the best organised centres. In spite of the large turnout of candidates, we effectively managed the crowd. We had a perfect arrangement.
Safety measures inadequate in Calabar
In Calabar, Cross River State, candidates who participated in the recruitment exercise last Saturday alleged that there were no enough medical personnel to cater for the exigencies of over 5, 000 persons during the exercise.
An applicant, who spoke with Saturday PUNCH under condition of anonymity, alleged that one person fainted during the exercise.
Another applicant alleged that the brute force applied by the military personnel drafted to maintain orderliness also led to the some applicants sustaining injuries.
He said at the slightest provocation, the military personnel did not waste time in using their whips on the applicants to enforce discipline.
But officials of the state command of NIS denied the allegations, insisting that enough medical personnel were drafted to ensure that the exercise was hitch free.
The Public Relations Officer of the Cross River Command of the NIS, Mary Abang, said, “We brought in all the medical personnel from our clinic to ensure the exercise went on well. It is not true that someone fainted, otherwise we would have known. We ensured that there was orderliness in all we did.”
Another top immigration official, who preferred anonymity, confirmed that all the medical paraphernalia were put in place to ensure that there was prompt attention.
He said the Cross River State command of the NIS should be commended for putting all facilities in place and ensured that there were no cases of casualties.
No ambulance in Uyo
The Public Relations Officer, NIS, Akwa Ibom State, Mr. Effiom Effiom, said the near stampede witnessed at the venue was caused by the applicants who arrived late at the examination venue, though the security men at the gate were asked to relax their stance on locking out applicants.
He said besides the incident at the gate, the exercise was hitch free in the state.
He however stated that there was no ambulance service, but that their vehicles were on standby, as the venue for the test was a few metres away from the Federal Medical Centre, Uyo.
Four ambulances in Osogbo
The Osun State Command of the NIS made provision for four ambulances and paramedics obviously in anticipation of emergencies at the venue of the recruitment exercise.
Our correspondent observed that one ambulance from the FRSC was stationed at the venue while Osun State Ambulance Agency sent three ambulances to the place.
Apart from officials of the NIS, there were policemen and officials of the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps, Nigeria Prisons Service at the centre.
But officials of the FRSC and NSCDC had difficulty controlling vehicular traffic at the entrance of St. Charles’ School, the venue of the test.
Four of the applicants slumped at the venue and they were promptly attended to by the paramedics who manned the Osun State ambulances.
The intervention of the Comptroller of NIS in Osun State, Stella Onwaduegbo, intervention saved a protest by some applicants from degenerating. Some of them were angry that some applicants who came late for the test were given preference over those who came early.
The aggrieved applicants hurled bottles at officials of NSCDC and FRSC but the comptroller immediately pacified them.
Onwaduegbo also ensured that pregnant applicants were not subjected to the hardship which other applicants experienced. She created special points for pregnant and nursing applicants to write their names.
No proper organisation in Enugu
Most of the candidates who sat for the NIS test told our correspondent that the exercise fell short of proper organisation.
“Accreditation did not commence by 8am as planned even when the stadium was already filled by 6am on that fateful day,” said one of the candidates, Mr. Emmanuel Ihewunwa.
“When it eventually started, the immigration officials put up a lackadaisical approach to the whole thing. When the paper eventually came by 6.30 pm, they shared it halfway and threw the rest into the air leaving us to scramble for it,” Ihewunwa said.
He said, “There would have been a stampede, it’s just that we had made up our mind not to get injured or be sacrificed for an exam we knew nothing would come out of.”
He added, “The situation was like that in all parts of the country because we kept calling our friends in Owerri, Benin and other places. I even have the video of the incident on my phone.”
However, officials of the NIS told Saturday PUNCH that there were ambulances on ground when the NIS exam was conducted in the state last Saturday.
They spoke to our correspondent at the premises of the NIS located at the Federal Secretariat, Enugu.
The NIS personnel, however, declined revealing their identities, saying they were not officially authorised to speak.
According to them, there were doctors attached to the three ambulances that were stationed at the Nnamdi Azikiwe Stadium, venue of the exam.
One of them said, “In the ambulances were first aid kits and drugs. Even when six of the candidates fainted, the doctors had no challenge reviving them. They had the right equipment, the drugs and beverages.”
She said, “Out of the six that fainted, two were taken to the hospital because their case was quite different. We later heard they were discharged after some hours.”
On the safety precautions put in place before and during the exercise, she said, “We worked with the police to ensure that they provided security. We also sought the assistance of the National Emergency Management Agency, which deployed its men in the venue of the exam.”
She said, “NEMA also provided the ambulances and other safety measures and gadgets.”
She agreed that the police averted a protest, but said the planned protest came from a section of the candidates.
“The candidates with Ordinary National Diploma and O’Level qualifications were decent and organised, it was the degree holders who frustrated our efforts,” she said.
She added, “The degree holders were the ones who fought and almost staged a protest.”
Meanwhile, the Police Public Relations Officer in Enugu State, Mr. Ebere Amaraizu, said that the exercise went on well since there was no report of violence from police officers that mounted guard at the venue that day.
“None of them reported that a protest was averted, so I don’t know of that,” said Amaraizu.
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