THE NIGERIAN IMMIGRATION SERVICE INTERVIEW- Where is the Love?

Bruno is an unemployed Nigerian who had participated in the Nigerian Immigration Service interview which was conducted on Saturday the 15^th of March 2014 and which resulted in the death of innocent Nigerians. This is his detailed narration of the events of that faithful day:

I had to be there to witness it for myself. How could I miss such an opportunity for anything in the world? I woke up very early, dressed up and headed for the Abuja stadium. It was 7 O’clock Am when I got there. The moment I got down from the car, the first words I uttered were OMG! The crowd was unbelievable. The whole ground was covered with young people all dressed in white. I could bet that some people actually slept at that stadium the previous night. The crowd reminded me of the finals of the FIFA under 17 world cup of 2009. That day I had prayed fervently for the stadium not to collapse under the weight of patriotic Nigerians who had come to cheer the Eagles to victory. 

As I approached the crowd, questions raced through my baffled mind; Are these people retarded?  How could reasonable people invite 70,000 or more people to sit for a job interview in a 60,491 capacity stadium? How are they supposed to conduct a free and fair test for this crowd? How are the applicants supposed to think and write the test with a clear head under such an inhumane condition? What if the Boko Haram or other terrorist group should decide to take advantage of this opportunity? How on earth are they expecting these people to write a text in a stadium abi they don put desks inside? What did they do with the huge sum of money realised from the job seekers? What in heaven’s name am I doing here instead of chilling at home?

Disappointed and slightly angry, I scanned the crowd for our security personnel. To my dismay, none was in sight. Pushing aside my fears, I bravely mingled with the crowd made up of unemployed and under employed young men and women, pregnant women, young fathers and mothers, daring and caring husbands carrying babies for their wives and innocent toddlers tagging along.   

If you have never been to Abuja, then you should know that the Abuja stadium is near the city gate, far away from the city centre and ordinary day to day activities. Apart from during tournaments when buses are provided by the FCT for her residents and petty traders, there are no shops, restaurants or any form of business activity within and around the stadium and few buses ply that route. To get to the stadium, you would have to drive yourself; hire a cab or board a bus. Taking a walk to the stadium is definitely out of the question unless you are daring and fit.  Network reception at the stadium is also very poor. In order for you to survive a whole day at the Abuja stadium, you must go with edibles and water. There was absolutely nothing to eat or drink and no one to buy from. That was the situation these job seeking Nigerians most of whom left their homes very early in the morning with little or nothing to eat and a little change in their pockets were faced with.  More people fainted from exhaustion, dehydration and hunger rather than from the stampede to gain entrance into the stadium and for the very few stadium seats.

In a bid to survive, some active youths saved the situation and raked in thousands of Naira from the desperate and forsaken crowd. A group of young men rushed into town and filled their car boots with pure water bags which sold for as high as N50 a sachet as against the usual N10, Gala went for N100 as against the usual N50. Some women went home to cook food and prepare snacks which were sold at exorbitant prices to the crowd who had no alternatives. People fought for the very scarce food and water.

The Immigration, Civil Defence, Fire service and Military Police officials felt helpless against the crowd. As I watched them battle to control the people and communicate with millions with car powered speakers and radios, it dawned on me that our security agencies have little or no knowledge of crowd control. As I watched them parade aimlessly within the stadium with guns and ambulances and no bomb squads in site, it dawned on me that coming for the interview was a huge risk.

The highlight of the failed interview was the free comedy shows, the mock beauty pageants, the soccer events and Physical fitness exercises. After waiting for eleven hours in vain for an interview that was slated for 7am to start, the young men and women took advantage of the green pitch. Notwithstanding the heat of the sun and the pangs of hunger, notwithstanding their cultural and religious differences and the threat of terrorism, young men and women took it upon themselves to entertain the crowd free of charge. I must confess that these young people helped to ease the tension and douse the fears of many. They made us forget our woes till 4:30pm when the officials of the Nigerian Immigration Service brought in few test papers and tried to conduct a masquerade interview.

Bruno’s tale of the failed Saturday interview conducted by the Ministry of Interiors and specifically the Nigerian Immigration Service, made me understand why Nigeria is still being referred to as an UNDER-DEVELOPED COUNTRY and/or A FAILED STATE by many. Why would a country with more than a million unemployed or under employed young people not be faced with terrorism, kidnapping and other offenses? Why is it hard for our leaders to be sincere with us, forget themselves and their immediate families for once and spend our resources wisely? Why do we keep hearing of billions disappearing from our national treasury instead of seeing these moneys being put to positive use? Why are government officials being allowed to go free after enriching themselves from our treasury while frustrated youths are burnt alive on our streets for petty crimes? Why would the government confess to the world that they have created employment for the Nigerian youths when it is obvious to the blind that it is all a scam?  Who is deceiving whom?

It is obvious now that Nigeria is being governed mostly by a group of people who either have low IQs or have refused, due to reasons best known to them, to think and act like people vested with authority. The failed interview made me realize that Nigerians are smart people being led by a group of blind and money hungry men and women who DO NOT CARE about the welfare of their people. A country where citizens are treated with neglect and lack of love, a country filled with patriotic and peace loving citizens who are being pushed into crimes and wickedness by the few greedy ones. It made me realize that we have a very long way to go as a nation and that notwithstanding the obvious failures and heartbreaks we have been made to suffer in the recent past; Nigerians still trust and believe in this country. It made realize that Nigeria is a country richly blessed with vibrant, brave, happy, strong, industrious and smart young people.

It is time for our leaders to realize that our system needs to be changed. It is time for people to realize that they can make their lives better by working hard and refuse to risk their lives all because of few unavailable jobs. To all those who lost loved ones on Saturday, I want you to know that I share in your grief.

Thank you Bruno for sharing your story and for the pictures as well.