The Ministry of Interior and the Nigeria Immigration Service (NIS) are currently being assailed by bad publicity and internal friction among aides as well as protests by youth groups and civil society organisations (CSOs) following the incident of March 15 – the process of enlisting fresh cadets into the paramilitary agency, which ended in the loss of lives.
Armed security men have taken up strategic positions and are restricting access to the ministry and the Nigeria Immigration Service headquarters since Tuesday, what Saturday Newswatch learnt as a pre-emptive measure to secure the buildings from damage by aggrieved persons.
A detachment of armed civil defence personnel were dispatched to the Interior Ministry to beef-up security after angry youths disrupted business for about 30 minutes on Tuesday afternoon, splashing red paint at the entrance of the ministry before dispersing with a promise to return more viciously.
Among the units deployed to the ministry are members of the Nigerian Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) Special Weapons and Tactics (SWAT) branch specifically trained on riot control and use of specialiaed firearms.
The Immigration Headquarters increased the number of armed operatives guarding the premises, while visitors are now subjected to rigorous screening.
The youths, who demonstrated at the ministry, numbered about 40. Their mission, Saturday Newswatchlearnt, was to draw attention to their agitation. They had inscribed “murderers” at the entrance of the ministry while repeatedly shouting the same words to register their grievance over the botched immigration recruitment exercise which ended with injuries and loss of lives.
Organisers of the demonstrations like Hajjiya Azeenarh Mohammed believe= that employment into paramilitary agencies would continue to be mismanagement except some people at the top are penalised or forced to pay the price for inefficiency. She insisted that the grouse of the demonstrators is that the ministry’s interference led to the botched recruitment.
Mohammed said the youths were also angered by the news in the social media which claimed that Comrade Abba Moro met with a select group of journalists at Nugget Hotel, behind Chisco Transport Company in Utako, Abuja, where he allegedly offered them N500,000 each to launder his image.
Hajjiya Mohammed said the demonstrators represented the unemployed youths of Nigeria, insisting that their demand for the sack and prosecution of Comrade Moro and the Comptroller General of the NIS, Mr. David Shikfu Parradang for negligence, dereliction of duties and engaging in acts unbecoming of highly placed public officers must be carried out before the protests can be called-off.
Source: Daily Newswatch
