Much ado about nothing.

                                                                           photo credit :Okechukwu Ofili

The preceding weekend was historic. Let us all pretend we have good reason to be astonished at the multitude that turned up at various centers across the nation for the NIS employment examination; And the immigration service can feign even greater surprise at the number, even though they  were registered. Probably they were so busy they forgot the golden rule of crowd control ‘where millions of people are gathered in the name of hustle a stampede will follow’. That a number of citizens died in this process is depressing. I wouldn't use expressions such as unfortunate or impatient which graced interior minister Abba Moro’s speech. Unfortunate is when you break a condom during coitus with a sex worker at Ebutemeta, Impatience is when you lose millions of naira to Murtala Mohammed airport fast guys. When citizens die in an employment exam, when almost a million people apply for a job with only four thousand plus vacant slots, when graduates scramble for question papers in a setting because they are certain their one thousand naira registration fee is no longer a guarantee they would get writing materials; it is anything but unfortunate and they are anything but impatient. It is pathetic and sad. Now that the fan has blown open the fowls bottom accusations fly like termites after the first rain; the fatal examination is claimed to not have been handled by the NIS but was outsourced to a private company owned by the wife of the senate president and NIS claim had they handled it themselves the catastrophe could have been avoided, if only.  We can all sleep easy though as a panel has been set up to investigate the deaths, and we all have evidence of the great efficiency and productivity of many panels in the past.

In other news, while people died over the weekend in an employment hustle the media are active with Newspaper spreads being bought daily to congratulate delegates of the national confab; it is like buying a page in the dailies to congratulate a friend for being chosen for NYSC, but I’m not one to judge. Since we are in a season of praise; I congratulate Mr. President on his bold move asking those responsible for the immigration exercise to refund the one thousand naira application fee, even though we all know this will be a feat equal to using a bucket to drain a dam into the Atlantic, possible but practically impossible, But I will praise him still for trying. Also for his automatic immigration employment scheme; now families only have to fight and probably kill between themselves to produce three members to get a job ; what does it matter if one person died?. The injured can smile at their bandages and plasters, luckily they are alive to enjoy the fruit of their bruises and broken appendages. As for those who left their centers singing zumuntamata hymns, grateful for escaping unscathed, they should have remembered that the one person that can turn bad luck around is Goodluck. Lastly, I will congratulate him for his speech in Namibia, claiming that corruption is blown out of proportion in Nigeria. I agree. Why so much ado about automobiles worth two hundred and fifty five million naira, or billions of naira lost to waivers, or even about some missing twenty billion dollars? It is after all not only in Nigeria that money grows wings and flies out of the treasury, or people are caught money in cap, or where lawmakers earn ridiculous salaries. So what if they flew to Kenya in seven private jets? Plus how many did we fly to Namibia with? Yes it is very obvious corruption is blown out of proportion, and how little it is tolerated under this administration is even more unmistakable. 

let us all pretend all is well, that it doesn't matter people died as long as three other living relatives gain employment, that twelve million naira is not too high  a price to pay delegates carrying out a national assignment. let us pretend our worry is just much ado about nothing.