Minority Leader of the House of Representatives Hon. Femi Gbajabiamila, said the action of the Nigeria Immigration Service(NIS) at collecting money from job seekers amounted to fraud, which negated the spirit and letters of Section 419 of the Criminal Laws.
“What the NIS did was to obtain money by false pretence, contrary to section 419 of our criminal laws. Whoever is responsible must be treated and punished as we would a 419ner.
“To make matters worse, I am not aware that the revenue realised was considered as part of the revenue profile of the agency or the country when the 2014 budget was submitted.
“I am saddened by this occurrence and dismayed that the Minister’s statement that those who died were to blame for their conduct, if true, showed no trace of humanity.
”It is obtaining by false pretense when you take money from 520,000 people without telling them up-front there was limited vacancy for just 4,000 people, half of which had already been given to cronies and preferred candidates any way,” the lawmaker said.
He stated that the exercise was a proof to the alarming rate of unemployment in the country.