Moro acted on his own, we did not approve recruitment test – Immigration Board

Embattled Minister of Interior did not involve relevant officials before the conduct of last Saturday’s Immigration Service recruitment test.

This was disclosed yesterday by the Board of Immigration Service, Nigeria Security and Civil Defence, Prisons and Fire Service.

In his appearance before the Hon. Solomon Olamilekan- Adeola-headed House of Representatives Committee on Public Accounts yesterday, a Commissioner on the Board, Mr. S D Tapgun, stated that the Board did not approve the exercise.

Tapgun, who led the board members and heads of the agencies under the board, said “Only the Interior Minister and the consultant he engaged for the exercise can tell Nigerians exactly what happened. Even the Comptroller-General of the Nigerian Immigration Service was not involved. He was not part of the recruitment at all. There was no board resolution to recruit anybody.

“When we, the members of the board, learnt about the recruitment, we wrote the Minister that we are not in support of engaging the services of a third party to conduct recruitment for the Immigration Service, but he ignored our letter and went ahead to engage the consultant named Rexel Technical Global Nigeria limited. The Consultant fixed everything, including a N1,000 fees, which they claimed was administrative charges.”

Tapgun said to prove the innocence of the board in the affair before Nigerians, members were ready to confront the Minister at any time.

The Commissioner said its findings show that 693,000 applicants who paid N1,000 each to designated banks by the consultant, were registered for the recruitment.

Reacting, Honourable Adeola said both the Interior Minister and the consultant should appear before the committee to explain where they derived the power for recruitment without approval from the Board.

“This is fraud. Nigerians, our children have been defrauded to the tune of a billion naira. The Minister and the consultant must tell Nigerians how much was collected, the banks where the money is being kept and the account numbers, among others.”

The lawmaker recalled that the committee had summoned the Board before the tragic event, to come and explain why applicants were asked to pay N1,000 each for the recruitment.