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May I commence this presentation with a profound expression of my
sincere and huge sense of loss and grief about the unfortunate and
tragic events of Saturday the 15th of March, 2014. I am
still pained and saddened by the circumstances leading to the loss of
lives in some Nigerian Immigration Service recruitment examination
centres.
Kindly allow me to use this medium to once again express my sincere
heartfelt sympathies and condolences to the families of the bereaved
and to say it is for me a personal loss. May the Almighty God grant us
the fortitude to bear this irreparable loss.
2. Allow me to express my gratitude to the National Assembly
and indeed, the Senate Committee on Interior for affording me this
auspicious opportunity to put in proper perspective the circumstances
surrounding the e-Recruitment exercise of the Nigeria Immigration
Service (NIS) of 15th March, 2014 which unfortunately turned tragic in some centres.
Mr. Chairman, Very Distinguished Senators, permit me to draw your
attention to my personal experiences with regards to the recruitment
process into the Paramilitary Services under my supervision as Minister
of Interior. On my assumption of office as Minister, I took cognisance
of the unprecedented challenges facing the recruitment processes,
procedures and practice in the Paramilitary Services under the
supervision of the Ministry. Such experiences were characterised by
incoherent procedures, favouritism, job racketeering and unequal
opportunities among others and therefore needed immediate attention.
The noble task before me was to institute measures that would ease
the application procedures, enthrone an open and transparent process,
allow for equal opportunities, institute a process for the engagement of
qualified and deserving persons and also to ensure the reflection of
federal character pursuant to applicable federal laws.
In December 2012, the Immigration Service approached me with a
waiver for the recruitment of 4,556 personnel from the office of the
Head of Service of Nigeria. The conduct of that recruitment was marred
by controversy and accusations of tribalism, nepotism, job racketeering
and lopsidedness. The exercise was cancelled.
The recruitment procedures into the Services is as contained in the
Act establishing the Board and guidelines for Appointment, Promotions
and Discipline for use in Civil Defence, Fire, Immigration and Prisons
Servicers.
(Annex 1A and 1B)
3. Consequently, upon our public expression of the
determination to conduct a more credible exercise, a consultant made a
proposal to the Ministry for the adoption of a modern and efficient
method of conducting recruitment exercise through the “e-Recruitment
Platform.” (Annex II)
The management subsequently constituted a committee to scrutinize
the proposal and make recommendations. The committee evaluated the
proposal and made recommendations for the adoption of the
“e-Recruitment” option after due consultations with relevant government
agencies such as the Federal Character Commission for guidance and the
Federal Road Safety Commission which had previous experience of
“e-Recruitment.” (Annexes IIIA and IIIB) and forwarded its recommendations to the procurement department for action.
In line with part VIII, Para 45(3B) of the Public Procurement Act
of 2007, the procurement department invited proposals from three other
consultants who were deemed to have the requisite competence and
experience in the field under a contractor finance management scheme.
(Annex IV).
The procurement department assessed the proposals/business case outlines of the four consultants namely:
I. Messrs Pyrich Global Limited
II. Messrs Bosmos Infotech Limited
III. Messrs Rosebonny Technologies Limited and
IV. Messrs Drexel Technologies Nigeria Limited
and subsequently made recommendations to the Ministerial Tenders Board (MTB).
The Tenders Board of the Ministry considered the proposals of all the consultants at its meeting of 10th
April, 2013, and approved the award of the e-Recruitment contract to
the Drexel Technologies Nigeria Limited having presented the best
proposal in the form of similar job experience, amortization and risk
analysis, “to undertake the recruitment project of the Ministry, its
Services and its agencies for a period five (5) years. (Annex V).
The contract agreement was signed between the Ministry and the Consultant on April 30th,
2013, and the Board (CDFIPB), the implementation agency was informed
accordingly and directed to liaise with the Legal Adviser and Consultant
to implement the contract. (Annex VI)
4. Taking cognisance of the successes recorded so far in the
administration of the e-Immigration and Expatriate Quota regime, the
e-automation of the citizenship and Business Department of the Ministry
of Interior, my direction was now focused on replicating these gains and
benefits to the recruitment process of the Board, hence the
e-recruitment platform. This online web portal constitutes the following
features:
- Online application, processing and documentation
- Real time online inquires and status update of applications in-process
- Online interface between the Ministry and other MDA’s on a shared agenda for collaboration
- Data base generation, efficient administration of the
application process (e.g. short listing based on eligibility criteria as
provided by the Board)
- Build capacity of schedule officers to work effectively on the e-platform and improve efficiency
- Enhancing the overall office procedures of the Civil
Defense, Fire, Immigration and Prison Board (CDFIPB) amongst other
beneficial features.
5. Our intention was to institutionalize a formidable,
transparent recruitment process that will in turn engage and enlist only
the best and brightest into the Paramilitary in service to their
nation. With sincerity of purpose, I made this a strategic ministerial
objective and characterised it as a mandatory deliverable, bearing in
mind the challenges of the Nigerian Immigration Recruitment in 2008 and
the Nigerian Security and Civil Defence Corps of 2012.
In strict compliance with due process and in line with the Public
Procurement Act 2007, the Ministerial Tenders Board met and considered
the proposals on e-recruitment and approved the award of the
e-recruitment contract to Messrs Drexel Technologies Limited as the
vendor to provide online based registration, processing of applications
for enlistment into the Paramilitary Services of the Ministry of
Interior. Drexel Technologies Limited after evaluation was found to be
the most responsive vendor in terms of policy content, experience on
similar projects and technical competence. The terms and conditions of
the contract agreement highlights their scope of work to include:
a. To develop an efficient custom-built e-portal solution for recruitment short listing into the Paramilitary Services,
b. To provide and host an automated custom-built e-recruitment system for the recruitment process,
c. To generate a comprehensive data from the portal to be used as a data bank for future recruitment exercises;
d. To display results of recruitment exercise for the
Paramilitary Services and shortlist details of successful candidates, as
well as applicants notification via Sms and electronic platforms.
(Annex VII)
6. On the policy Needs Assessment, on whether the Ministry and
Boards can engage a management consultant and justification for
processing charges, the Ministry wrote to the Federal Character
Commission to ascertain if the Ministry and the Board were within
appropriate legal workings of government.
And in response, by a letter dated 11 June, 2013 (Annex VIII) the
Federal Character Commission responded in the affirmative and considered
it in line with the provisions of the recruitment procedures issued by
the commission. The Commission clearly stated that the e-recruitment
online application idea was acceptable to it, but advised that
applicants who submitted hard copies of applications should also be
considered. On the charge of processing fees, the Federal Character
Commission also drew the attention of the Ministry to a Service wide
circular it issued on the 1st of November 2011, (Annex IX). In Paragraph 3.h of the said letter and I quote “in
the event of a candidate being required to buy scratch cards, the cost
shall not be more than One Thousand Naira only (N1 000)”.
Officials of the Federal Character Commission met with the
Honourable Minister and Officials of the Ministry discussed and agreed
on the modalities for implementing the e-recruitment platform.
Accordingly, an agreement was reached and executed with the vendor
Messrs Drexel Technologies Limited on the provision of online
applications portal and recruitment processing.
7. The ministerial tender’s board subsequently conveyed
its approval of the award of the e-recruitment platform to Drexel
Technologies Limited to the Board.
In the 36th meeting of the Board held on 23rd
of May, 2013, the award of the e-Recruitment contract and its terms
were conveyed to the Board which noted and approved the non-involvement
of the Ministry, the Board and the Nigerian Immigration Service in the
collection of Technology/application processing fees. (Annex X). For the
records, members of the board are:
(a)The Minister who shall be Chairman;
(b) One person to represent the Ministry charged with the
responsibility for matters relating to Internal Affairs;
(c) The Director (Comptroller-General) of Immigration;
(d) The Director (Comptroller-General) Prisons Services;
(e)The Commandant General NSCDC
(f) The Controller General FFS
(g) The legal adviser to the Ministry charged with responsibility
for matters relating to Internal Affairs;
(h) Two other persons who shall be full-time members to be
appointed by the President.
8. Subsequently, the Board in implementing the agreement placed advertisements in five (5) national newspapers, on the 9th and 10th
September, 2013 announcing the availability of vacancies for
recruitment into the Nigeria Immigration Service (Annex XI). Applicants
by this advertisement were directed to the portal for commencement of
application.
At the close of the portal a total of 710,110 applications were received, while 522,652 were short listed
for the aptitude test and physical examination. For the avoidance of
doubt, neither the Ministry, the Board, nor the Nigerian Immigration
Service was involved in the collection and custody of the
processing/technology fees of the application process.
This decision was taken mindful of the fact it was not a business
or profit making venture for the Ministry but an exercise to ensure
efficiency and transparency in the conduct of recruitment into the
services. This e-recruitment platform has also been in use by other
services, the Nigerian Navy, Nigerian Army, Nigerian Airforce, Federal
Road Safety Commission and the National drug Law enforcement Agency.
Permit me, Mr. Chairman to state here that the power and or
authority for appointment, promotion and discipline of the staff in the
Services reside with the Board. In line with section 5, subsection(I) of
the Immigration Act chapter II of the laws of the Federation of
Nigeria, the collection and sorting of the applications was outsourced
to the consultant who was authorised in consonance with extant
regulations, to charge a processing/technology fee of One Thousand Naira
only (N 1000).
The Board in exercise of its duties and functions encapsulated in
schedule 3(a)(b) of the Immigration and Prison Board Act as amended laid
out all the recruitment procedures necessary to conduct a hitch-free
exercise.
The Board in its 40th Meeting of 9th
December, 2013 approved the template for use in the aptitude and
physical examination across Nigeria. And, in line with Article 2.1.6 on
duties and obligations of the Parties in the Agreement under reference, a
steering committee for the conduct of the recruitment exercise was
emplaced. (Annex XII)
From the 30th of January 2014, the steering committee
held series of meetings to make adequate arrangements which included but
not limited to publicity, finances, choice of venues, security and
facility at venues, examination question papers.
Publicity was mounted and the Comptroller General ensured that
various State Commands in conjunction with sister agencies, the Police
and Federal Road Safety Commission were on hand to assist. The Federal
Character Commission was on ground for observational capacity. Medics
were also assembled in all the centres that were secured earlier with
relevant authorities. (Annex XIII)
9. On the ill-fated day and it is with a heavy heart that I
recall the events of that day, following far-reaching recommendations by
the Steering Committee, arrangements had been made towards a successful
recruitment exercise. From the accounts available to me regrettably,
events turned against all reasonable expectations. We had hoped that our
painstaking efforts towards this exercise would avail us the
opportunity to add value to the governance process. (Annex XIV)
10. Mr Chairman and Distinguished Senators, we are deeply
grieved and saddened about the way events turned out. We express our
sincere regrets once again.
However, permit me to state that our patriotic desire was the
pursuit of a more honest, a more transparent, a more cost effective, a
more efficient and equitable platform.
We sincerely made appropriate and adequate preparations for a hitch
-free exercise, but as most things in administrative and human
conditions, the yield curve of expected outcome is mostly undefined. My
heart goes out to the families of those who have lost their dear loved
ones. I sincerely sympathise with those injured. I share in their grief.
I share in their pains. May I at this juncture, assure you
Distinguished Senators and Nigerians of my respect of the sanctity of
human life. The loss of these young Nigerians, who are needed as a
critical human resource factor for nation building is most regrettable.
As the minister of interior, under whose purview this unfortunate
exercise took place, I cannot abdicate my responsibility. The buck stops
at my table.
I appreciate your kind audience.
Thank you.
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