Job Applicants Head to Court, Ask Ministry, NIS to Refund Fees .

Four persons acting for themselves and as representatives of those who participated in the ill-fated recruitment exercise conducted by the Nigeria Immigration Service (NIS) have filed a suit against the federal government, seeking among others, a refund of their application fees.

They also asked the court to declare that the conduct or the execution of the recruitment exercise was illegal, unwarranted and in violation of the their fundamental rights to life.

The plaintiffs, who filed the suit at the registry of the court, brought the application under Sections 33,34,  and 44 of the 1999 Constitution (as amended) and the equivalent articles of the African Charter on Human and Peoples Right.

Also joined as respondents in the suit are the Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, the Minister of Interior, Abba Moro, the NIS and its  Comptroller General, David Shikfu Parradang.

The applicants, Charles Ugwuonye, Friday Danlami, Chinedu Onwuka and Samson Ojo through their counsel, Emeka Ugwuonye,  among other  want the court to declare the recruitment exercise illegal and restrain the NIS from spending the money realised from the recruitment exercise.
They also want the court to order the respondents to refund the recruitment money back to the applicants, pay the sum of N1million to each applicant and N50million to deceased applicants as general damages.

They ask the court to declare that the conduct or the execution of the recruitment exercise is illegal, unwarranted and in violation of the applicants’ fundamental rights to life, right to protection from inhuman and degrading treatment, right to dignity of the human person, right against discrimination on the basis of the circumstances of birth and right against unlawful taking of the property of a person; under Sections 33, 34, 42 and 44 of the Constitution (as amended), and the equivalent Articles of the African Charter on Human and Peoples Rights.

The applicants prayed  for an order  declaring that the respondents, particularly the Minister of Interior and Comptroller General of the NIS owed a duty of honesty and candor to them regarding the true purpose and intention behind the exercise.
The court was also asked to declare  that the respondents, particularly the Minister of Interior and the Comptroller General of the NIS have a duty to superintend the recruitment exercise in a safe and healthy manner with due consideration to lives and wellbeing of those who applied for or participated in the exercise.

The applicants further want an order declaring that the NIS 2014 recruitment exercise was carried out in a manner that was motivated by greed and corrupt intentions and without any realistic plan to offer the applicants employments.
Also they want an order declaring that the respondents do not have the power to appropriate any funds raised by them from the recruitment exercise but must remit such funds to the Federation Account.

The applicants further want court to grant an order of interim injunction restraining the respondents from spending any of the funds raised from the recruitment exercise and an order  of perpetual injunction restraining the respondents from spending any of the funds raised from the exercise. They also want the court to direct the respondents to refund each applicant the sum of N1,000 which they paid to participate in the exercise and also an order directing the respondents to pay general damages in the amount of N1 million to each living applicant for the violation of their rights.

The court was also asked to make an order directing the respondents to pay general damages in the amount of N50 million to each person who lost his or her life during the exercise.
In addition, the applicants want the court to make an order directing the respondents to issue a written apology to them.
The apology should be published in five Nigerian newspapers and on the main website of the NIS.

In a 45-paragraph affidavit deposed to by one Chris Ebosie, the applicants averred that in or around September of 2013, the NIS placed an advertisement, titled “Nigeria Immigration 2014 Recruitment Exercise”, on its website:

http://www.immigration.gov.ng<http://www.immigration.gov.ng and several Nigerian newspapers.

They further averred that the said advertisement did not describe in a clear manner specific qualifications for the vacancies available and it did not indicate the number of vacancies available, but it merely encouraged anybody with qualifications greater than secondary school education to apply online through a website it designated for that purpose.

 

Alison-Madueke ‘blows N10b on chartered plane !

The House of Representatives yesterday mandated its Committee on Public Accounts to investigate the alleged squandering of N10 billion over a two-year period on the arbitrary charter and maintenance of a Challenger 850 aircraft for unofficial use by the Minister of Petroleum Resources, Mrs Diezani Alison-Madueke.

The House also mandated its Committee on Natural Gas to scrutinise the non-remittance of funds accruing from the Nigeria Liquefied Natural Gas Company (NLNG) to the Federation Account from 2004 to date.

Both committees were given three weeks to conduct their probes and submit their reports to the House.

The House’s decision on the private jet charter and unremitted funds by NLNG was based on a motion brought by Hon. Samuel Babatunde Adejare (APC, Lagos).

Acting on what it termed reliable evidence, the House said it learnt that Alison-Madueke had allegedly sunk at least N3.120 billion into the maintenance of a private jet dedicated to the service of herself and her family.

A breakdown of the money, according to Adejare, showed that the sum of 500,000 Euros (N130 million) was spent every month on the maintenance of the airplane, which amounts to N3.120 billion for the two years in question.

He noted that in recent weeks, Nigerians had “experienced acute fuel shortage due to dwindling revenue, which have reduced the quality of governance and deprived the people of dividends of democracy”.

He said the lower chamber of the National Assembly was not unaware that part of the money for the maintenance is spent on payments of allowances to the plane’s crew, hangar parking and rent based on a lease agreement.

Continuing, Adejare added: “This colossal waste is currently estimated at N10 billion which includes the payment of allowances to the crew for the trips, hanger parking and rent based on the lease agreement.

“If government is bankrolling this waste in the face of ever dwindling public resources, it amounts to a misplacement of priorities, impudence and breach of public trust.”

Submitting that the minister’s action contravenes the “Fiscal Responsibility Act and all other laws on fiscal discipline”, Adejare further cited Section 82 (2) (b) of the 1999 Constitution “which empowers the National Assembly to expose corruption, inefficiency or waste in the execution or administration of laws within its legislative competence and the disbursement or administration of funds appropriated by it”.

Defending the use of a private jet by the minister, a ministry source told THISDAY yesterday that traditionally all petroleum ministers have always flown with planes belonging to the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC).

However, he said that Alison-Madueke had been forced to charter private aircraft because one of the planes operated by NNPC had aged considerably, while the other, a newer aircraft, was involved in a crash recently and had not been fixed.

Besides, he said the minister restricts her use of private jets to local trips while all her international trips are by commercial flights.

Meanwhile, the House of Representatives was also convinced that the funds accruing to the NLNG Bonny have not been remitted to the Federation Account from 2004 to date, thus seriously affecting “all critical sectors of the Nigerian economy”.

Also contributing to the debate, Hon. Aminu Suleiman (APC Kano) said Section 162 (1) of the 1999 Constitution makes it mandatory for all revenue collected by the Government of the Federation to be remitted into the Federation Account.

He elaborated that Section 162 (10) of the constitution defines revenue as “any income or return accruing to or derived by the government of the federation”.

The source of this, according to Suleiman, includes any receipt, howsoever described arising from the operation of any law, any return, howsoever described, arising from or in respect of any property held by the Government of the Federation; and any receipt by way of interest on loans and dividends in respect of shares or interest held by the Government of the Federation in any company or statutory body.

He said: “But NLNG Bonny, in flagrant disobedience and breach of Section 162 (1) of the 1999 Constitution, has not remitted funds accruing to it to the Federation Account form 2004 to date.”

This development, he added, “has adversely affected the Federation Account to the detriment of federal, states and local governments.”