Nigerians
are calling for the head of the Nigerian Immigration Service (NIS) to
be sacked following the deaths of 20 applicants and injury to hundreds
during the NIS’s nationwide recruitment exercise last Saturday, but who
exactly is the man that many believe has blood on his hands?
Mr
David Shikfu Parradang, the Comptroller General of the NIS is the man
in the hot seat, and he is still barely a year into the job having being
promoted from Assistant Comptroller General to the top position on 10
June, 2013.
Described
as a gentle man by his first cousin, who wishes to remain anonymous, Mr
Parradang has spent over 30 years in the Immigration service, having
joined in 1982 as an Assistant Superintendent of Immigration and working
his way up to the top.
“He’s
a very, very simple, honest, straightforward and quiet man. A perfect
gentleman,” the cousin, who resides in Abuja, explained.
Born on 6th of September 1959 in Pankshin, Plateau State, Mr Parradang attended
Government College, Keffi in 1973 and obtained his West African School
Certificate in Division One in 1977. He went on to study Sociology and
graduated with a Bachelor’s of Science, 2nd Class Upper Division degree
in 1981 from the University of Jos, and upon graduation, completed his Youth Service at Anambra State before gaining a Masters
Degree in Public Administration from the University of Lagos. He is
also an Alumnus of the Prestigious National Institute for Policy and
Strategic Studies, Kuru, Jos, Plateau State.
His
long career in Immigration, starting right after graduation, has seen
him work in Kano, Lagos and Enugu, and in 2012 he became the Assistant
Comptroller General, before his present appointment as the Comptroller
General of Immigration Service, taking over after the premature
retirement of Mrs Rose Uzoma.
“When
I joined the Immigration Service in 1982, the only thing I knew about
immigration was what I read in the novels. I wanted to be something
else, a foreign officer or something. I virtually did not know what
immigration was all about till I got in,” he told This Day in an
interview last year.
His
cousin described Mr Parradang’s as modest, and suggested that the CG of
the NIS was not known for using his position to gain wealth.
“The
whole family is based in Abuja, they live in Apo, and he’s a very
simple man. He has five children; the eldest is in her mid-20s and the
youngest around 10 years old. Two of his children are abroad, the rest
are here. The only graduate, that’s the oldest, just finished law
school, she went to a Nigerian university.
“The
car he drives is as good as my own [a 2009 Honda], in fact I used to
feel rough for him, because I know that if I was in his shoes I wouldn’t
be driving that kind of car. And it’s one out of three cars, including
his wife’s. You know in these places you only make big money if you want
to and know how to cut corners.”
Many
have speculated that it is the children and relatives of the heads of
the NIS and various Senators and other politicians that will fill the
approximately 5, 000 vacancies that many died applying for, but our
source reveals that neither himself nor any other cousins have
benefitted from Mr Parrandang’s position.
“Since
this [recruitment exercise] has been happening, I’ve been to his house
five or six times, or more, but he has never ever mentioned it to me, as
in ‘How far, do you want a career with the immigration service?’ or
anything like that. He has never ever mentioned it to me.
“Some
of my cousins applied online and took a photocopy of the application
submission to his house. Unfortunately he wasn’t home, so we just
dropped it with his wife, and he never called us to say anything about
it. It’s always been ‘You’re on your own, I can’t make promises for you
guys,’ and we’re first cousins.”
When
asked in an interview about his officers asking for bribes at the
airport, Mr Parradang said: “I cannot sit here and exonerate the
Nigerian Immigration from all those things but...that problem is an
individual issue and not a corporate issue. I worked at the airport at
some time and I don’t think I ever asked anyone, ‘what is there for me
now’?
“We pay very well and on time so there is no reason anyone should ask travellers for money.”
Our
source states that Mr Parradang would have been devastated by the
events of the weekend, but believes it’s not all his fault.
“He
would have felt very terrible, but it’s possible that the whole process
was sabotaged because I don’t think it’s everybody will support him as
head so there are scenarios where people will deliberately do stuff to
get back at you.”
“The
ministry of interior had already initiated the vacancies before he came
on board, they’d already started that, so whilst it was going on they
changed the head of immigration and appointed him, then after coming on
board, they had issues with the whole thing.”
President
Goodluck Jonathan today summoned Mr Parradang as well as the Minister
of Interior, Abba Moro to the Presidential Villa to explain Saturday's
recruitment tragedy, and both men were reportedly in the Presidential
Villa for over three hours.
It's been alleged that only 240 slots remain from the 4,556 vacancies advertised, and there were 522,6752 official online applications.
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