Fed Govt gives N75 million to families of immigration recruitment victims

The Federal Government, yesterday gave a total of N75 million to 15 families of those who lost their lives in last year’s  immigration recruitment exercise.

Besides the N5 million cheque for each family, at least three members from each family also got letters of automatic employment.

A total of 35 out of 45 persons qualified for the automatic employment having successfully scaled through the immigration employment criteria.

They were employed as Assistant Inspectors, Assistant Superintendents and Officers cadre . The remaining 10 failed the immigration text and the families were expected to present fresh hands.

Presenting the letters of employment and the cheques at the Presidential Villa, Abuja, President. Jonathan said the recruitment day  was a sad one.

Describing  death as a necessary end for everyone, President Jonathan noted that the circumstance of the deaths  of the victims  was a bad one which was not due to their fault.

He said that the incident was caused by  lapses in the recruitment process.

He however pledged  that  government would not allow such incident to happen again.

According to him, the token sums given to the families and the employment given to three of each of the families were not enough to compensate for the death of the deceased applicants.

He apologised for the delay in giving out the money and blamed it it on bureaucratic processes.

Government, he said, would continue to do things that will encourage the younger generation of  Nigerians.

In a chat with journalists, the Minister of Interior, Comrade Abba Moro noted that the President had shown great commitment to the fulfilment of the promises he made  to the  bereaved families.

He said that the token was  the first phase of the fulfilment of the promise, adding that from May, the Government will begin to consider those who were injured during the recruitment.

Speaking on behalf of the bereaved families, Yunusa Imam thanked President Jonathan for the cheques and letters of employment.

“We thank you, Mr. President, for the promises that you have kept. We are profoundly grateful,’’ Imam, a guardian of one of the victims stated.