15th March, 2014
Ayorinde Oluokun/Abuja
The desire of some Nigerian youths to be employed in the Nigeria Immigration Service, NIS ended tragically on Saturday as news across the country indicated that many of the job seekers lost their lives in the stampede and confusion that marred the recruitment process conducted at Stadiums.
It was gathered that 700,000 applied for the 5,000 vacancies in the service.
The applicants paid N1000.00 each for their applications which was done online.
The deaths result mainly from very poor crowd management.
Scores of injured applicants are also said to be on admission in several parts of the country.
In Abuja, authorities of National Hospital, Abuja, confirmed seven dead among the 67,000 applicants who had converged at the National Stadium venue of the test as early as 6 am this morning.
Mr Tayo Haastrup, the spokesman for the hospital, identified the deceased to include five women and two men. He added that they were brought in dead and that the bodies had been deposited at the mortuary.
P.M. NEWS gathered that some of those injured were taken to other hospitals because of lack of space at the National Hospital.
The National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) also confirmed that 40 other applicants were hospitalized in Abuja.
Some of the eyewitnesses who were also at the National Hospital blamed the deaths on the mismanagement of the recruitment process by concerned government officials. “If there is no order, nothing can be achieved,’’ the official added.
It was gathered that though most of the applicants had gathered at the Stadium as early as 6 am, the gate was not opened until around 10.30 am and it was the stampede that followed that claimed the lives of the seven applicants.
In Rivers State, hospital authorities at the government-owned Braithwaite Memorial Hospital in Port Harcourt also confirmed that four candidates died during a stampede in the recruitment with over 20,000 participants.
Four others were said to be in critical condition because they were trampled upon during the stampede.
It was learnt that the stampede was caused when some soldiers started shooting in the air to control the crowd
A pregnant woman was among the dead in Rivers State.
In Benin, Edo State, reports indicated that three pregnant women died immediately inside the main bowl of Samuel Ogbemudia stadium venue of the recruitment exercise as a result of stampede caused by sporadic shooting of soldiers who were helping the officers conduct the exercise control the over 28,000 applicants.
Over 20 other applicants were injured. Reports also indicated that thousands of applicants were also trapped in stampedes Saturday at different venues for the Nigeria Immigration Service recruitment test in Kano, Benue and Gombe States.
News agency report indicated that about 10 applicants, including three expectant mothers, fainted while waiting for the commencement of the test which is part of the recruitment process Imo State.
