Yesterday’s tragic nationwide recruitment exercise of the Nigeria Immigration Service (NIS) was not organised by the NIS but by the Ministry of Interior, a top-level source has disclosed.

“Even though the recruitment was for additional staff for NIS, it was actually organised by the parent ministry and personally supervised by Interior Minister Abba Moro,” the NIS source said.

He said that was why Minister Moro was quick to seek to exonerate himself and the ministry from blame but rather blamed the dead and applicants for the fate that befell them.

As reported this morning by News Express, Mr. Moro had said while monitoring the exercise in Jos, the Plateau State capital: “The applicants lost their lives due to impatience; they did not follow the laid down procedures spelt out to them before the exercise. Many of them jumped through the fences of affected centres and did not conduct themselves in an orderly manner to make the exercise a smooth one. This caused stampede and made the environment unsecured.”

Some reports put the number of casualties at close to 40. While the minister said he learnt that only seven people lost their lives at the National Stadium, Abuja, Niger and Lagos states, media reports indicate that many more people died. The Guardian put the death toll at a minimum of 20 and supplied the following details: Abuja 8; Edo 2 (unconfirmed report says 20); Port Harcourt 4; Minna 3; Kano 3 (including a pregnant woman).

The tragedy occurred as the applicants were struggling to gain access into the recruitment test venues.

According to Minister Abba Moro, 520,000 applicants participated in the recruitment exercise across the country but only 4,556 would be recruited at the end of the exercise, based on the available space.

•Photo shows Interior Minister Abba Moro.