After passing out from the mandatory National youth Service it dawned on me that my University education didn't quite prepare me for the harsh realities of the real world, after I flunked my first job aptitude test I realised that I needed to be schooled in the 'Art of getting a job', I invested in Gmat materials, read online articles and watched videos on YouTube. fast forward to 2014, I was no longer in the Labour market, I had gotten a Job and moved out of my family house, the institution I worked for provided an accommodation for me, I wasn't where I wanted to be yet but I was sure far away from where I started.
During that period, I applied to several government institutions and private companies, wrote several Job tests and attended series of interviews, I became what you may call a veteran applicant or even Job test and interview consultant, lol
One faithful morning in February 2015 Agbor Enu a colleague and friend visited me in my office, she wanted me to help her with a Job application for a vacancy posted by the Nigeria Immigration Service, I was surprised that they were recruiting again after the failed recruitment that claimed the lives of 15 Nigerian Job applicants in 2014,I enquired and found out that the then President, Dr Goodluck Jonathan had set up a Presidential committee to assist the NIS to conduct a more credible and transparent recruitment and also compensate victims and relatives of the deceased applicants. After I was done with her application, She insisted that I apply for it, I laughed and told her that I was done applying for government Jobs, in her characteristic nature she was able to persuade me to apply.
Few weeks later, I got a Job aptitude test invitation from dragnet, Over 1million people had applied for the vacancies in the three cadres advertised, and 48000 of us were finally shortlisted, that was when I became interested, not because I was optimistic about getting the job but cos I had scores to settle with dragnet, my first ever job test which I flunked was set by dragnet. I had to travel to Port Harcourt for it since the venue was University of Port Harcourt. It was a one hour computer based test that consisted of Verbal, Numerical, Data interpretation and current affairs. Though I knew I did very well that test I was still not optimistic, I had the feeling that in their normal way the government will still influence the outcome.
I was so perplexed when I got a mail from the NIS that I passed the dragnet test and that I was to proceed to the Command in my State of Origin for Physical and document verification /Interview. I didn't get my hopes high though, there were still 22,700 people in the race and I wasn't confident that the next stage would be transparent, I didn't know anyone, No connection, No godfather.
The day came and I scaled through the physical and document verification, The interview was very formal and I wasn't sure if I had impressed the Panel, I went back home with no expectations.
Few weeks later in May, a list of successful applicants was posted on the NIS website, 2000 people had been shortlisted comprising of 900 Immigration assistants, 700 Assistant Inspectors and 400 Assistant Superintendents. As a graduate I fell in the last category. When I spotted my name in that list I didn't know if I should scream or how best to express how I felt, I called my Mom and shared the good news. I was to report to Kano State for Documentation.
Prior to this time, I had never been to the core North, the farthest I had traveled was Abuja, and it was at a time when Boko haram attacks were serious. I traveled alone to Abuja from Bayelsa State, and later hooked up with other successful applicants on Nairaland, and we traveled together from Abuja, it was a fun-trip, we all bonded and became inseparable (Well that's a story for another day). The exercise lasted for five days it was very thorough, we were issued Service Numbers and posting letters to our various States of Origin to report on Monday of the following week.
I made the trip back to Abuja with my new friends and traveled back to Bayelsa state the next day. My experience at the induction if put in words would make this article almost impossible to read, It was rigorous, it consisted of military drills, weapon handling, lectures about the rudiments of the NIS etc.
It was a period when the NIS was preparing for the Security week, there were a lot of activities scheduled, I joined the volleyball team and got really good at playing, after weeks of training, it was time for the real deal, we were paired against the JTF, The Nigerian police and the Federal Road safety, although we didn't win the trophy but it was an exciting experience.
Virtually everyone I told about the new job didn't believe I got it purely on merit, it was difficult trying to convince them, A transparent recruitment process was unheard of in the Country's Public Service, even the regular officers we met did not believe us when we told them we had no godfather.
For the three months we spent we weren't paid a dime, we were told we would receive the accumulated Emoluments after induction,at this time, the Buhari administration had taken over,
The week we were supposed to pass out from induction and proceed to the Immigration Training School for another Six months training, A memo was sent by the Service Headquarters to disperse the recruits on the 20th of August 2015.No reason was given, 2000 of us were sent away.
We were told that it was a short break, in few days time the break would be One year Short. We were labelled Pdp people, which is very laughable since all exist documents prove that the process that brought us in was very transparent.
We were to learn later that the NIS recruited over 1000 people secretly without any advert placement or test, The past comptroller General, Martins Abeshi recruited his Son and third wife, while we were still waiting to be recalled.
The #Nigeriaimmigration2000 has conducted four peaceful protests twice at the National Assembly and twice at the Ministry of Interior. There was even a resolution by the National Assembly mandating the NIS to recall the #Nigeriaimmigration2000 after the issue was investigated, but this directive has been ignored.
2000 individuals with combat mentality and knowledge of weapons and the security loopholes of Nigeria are roaming the streets Unengaged. They have remained peaceful in the pursuit for what's rightfully theirs I do not know how long they can hold on, they've been at home for One year now, during the training, a recruit died in Benue state and another died this year because she couldn't get access to proper medical care due to financial constraints.
When will the government begin to care about the youths, especially those with unpopular Surnames?
Why is the legal seen as illegal and the illegal as Legal.
Injustice anywhere is a threat to Justice Everywhere, this is an appeal to the youths to lend their voice to this injustice. Follow this discussion on Twitter using the hashtag #Nigeriaimmigration2000, you can also follow @NISdispersed. Nigeria does not belong to godfathers belongs to us all. Please Share on your walls.
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