Former Aviation Minister, Femi Fani-Kayode has registered his dismay
at the news of the death of several job seekers at various Nigerian
Immigration Service test centres across the country.
Hundreds of thousand of unemployed Nigerians trooped out in Lagos,
Oyo, Niger, Rivers, Abuja and other states to take part in the NIS
recruitment exercise. The Abuja test centre however witnessed the death
of at-least six job seekers who reportedly died as a result of a
stampede, several other candidates were rushed to the National Hospital
to receive medical attention.
Four candidates were also said to have
lost their lives in a separate incident in Port Harcourt, Rivers.
According to Femi Fani-Kayode who made his thoughts known this evening: “We have an army of angry, jobless and desperate youths on our hands in this country and we are sitting on a keg of gunpowder.”
Read his full reaction after the cut
60 per cent of our graduates are unemployed. 51 per
cent of our people are unemployed. As a glaring testimony to these
frightful statistics, which I happen to believe may well be a world
record in terms of unemployment, a terrible tragedy has occurred in
Abuja today.
Over 50,000 of our youths gathered at the National Stadium in
Abuja alone for an aptitude test for a few jobs in the Immigration
Service. 10 of those children were killed in a stampede whilst looking
for those jobs. Their only crime was to try to get a better life for
themselves and to try to secure their future. What a tragedy.
One day Nigerians will appreciate the importance of facts,
figures and statistics. Why is anyone surprised that hundreds of
thousands of youths are gathering in stadiums all over the country today
just to apply for a tiny handful of jobs that are available in
Immigration? This is so SIMPLY because there are NO jobs available for
these children in our country.
I repeat 80 per cent of our graduates are unemployed and 51 per
cent of our people are unemployed. Why won’t they die and be killled
looking for jobs? Why won’t they gather in stadiums all over the country
in their hundreds of thousands just to do an aptitude test for a job in
Immigration? Why should anyone be surprised by this?
They are desperate and they are suffering. That is what
Goodluck’s Nigeria has done to them. We have an army of angry, jobless
and desperate youths on our hands in this country and we are sitting on a
keg of gunpowder. May God help us and may He forgive us for failing
these children and destroying their futures.
Other than this I will say no more on this matter because the
truth is that most Nigerians no longer ”give a damn” when blood is shed
and when lives are taken. Under President Goodluck Jonathan we have
become a nation of vampires where the death of innocent children and
youths means nothing and where we cannot even provide jobs or a decent
standard of living for our young ones.
M ay the souls of those youths that lost their lives in today’s tragic events rest in perfect peace.
|
No comments:
Post a Comment