News: Senate Dumps NIS Tragedy Probe Report - NIS Recruitment Saga

Nigeria Immigration Service - Fresh fact emerged on Monday that the senate leadership may not provide any platform for the consideration of the investigation conducted by its Committee on Interior over the ill-fated recruitment into the Nigerian Immigration Service, on March 15, this year.

Our correspondent noted that the report, which was submitted by the Chairman of the Committee, Senator Abubakar Bagudu, over two months ago, was not listed for consideration until the red chamber proceeded on its annual recess, which will end in September.

The development, according to further investigations, is currently fueling suspicion and fears among the general public that the report may eventually be thrown into the dust bin.

It will be recalled that the Senate had on March 18, this year, directed its Committee on Interior, to carry out a comprehensive probe into the circumstances that led to the recruitment tragedy which claimed 18 lives of job seekers at various recruitment centres and left several others injured.
The report of the Bagudu-led committee was submitted to the Senate some weeks behind schedule in May.

Further investigations carried out by our correspondent on the cause of the delay in the consideration of the report revealed that the report might not be considered at all because it was a verbatim report without the executive summary which should have contained recommendations.

It was also gathered that the committee allegedly took into consideration, the fact that the Minister of Interior, Mr. Abba Moro, who spearheaded the tragic exercise, is believed to be the political godson of the Senate President, David Mark.

Despite the assurance by the Chairman, Senate Committee on Rules and Business, Senator Ita Enang, two weeks ago that all outstanding reports before the upper chamber would be considered before the expiration of the Seventh Senate, some of his colleagues doubted the possibility of his claim.

A senator, who spoke with our correspondent on condition of anonymity because of the sensitive nature of the issue, argued that the report might not be considered by the Senate in September, because of the alleged closeness of the minister to the Senate President.

The senator maintained that such report would not be considered because it was likely to have implicated Moro based on the media report on the public hearing conducted by the committee that indicted the minister.

He said, "The Senate President who many believed influenced the appointment of Abba Moro as a minister in 2011, cannot do anything to hurt his political godson. Nothing can come out of the report because the minister involved is widely known to be like a political son to the Senate President apart from the fact that the duo are from the same ethnic group in Benue State."

The senator added that based on information at his disposal, some of the committee members did not see the report before it was submitted to the Senate.

A member of the committee, who also pleaded anonymity, corroborated the claim of the senator.

However, the Chairman of the Committee, Bagudu, in a telephone interview with our correspondent on Monday, said no member of the committee could claim that he didn't see the report before it was submitted to the Senate.

He said, "As far as I am concerned, every member of the committee made inputs into the report at the compilation stage as regards findings made about the recruitment tragedy and even contributed to the recommendations arrived at, at the end of the day."

He added that since his committee had done its job, it was left for the appropriate committee to present it on the floor of the Senate for consideration and approval.

It will be recalled that the immigration recruitment tragedy of March this year occurred when the Ministry of Interior attempted to recruit about 5,000 young Nigerians into the NIS.

The Comptroller General of the NIS, David Paradang, had told the committee members during the public hearing that Moro did not carry him along in the ill-fated exercise.

Source: Punch