Nigeria Immigration Service tragedy, Recruitment consultant, Drexel Technologies not licensed- Ministry

BY VICTOR AHIUMA YOUNG

DREXEL Technologies Limited, the
outsourcing company engaged
by the Nigerian Immigration
Service, NIS, for March 15, 2014
recruitment interview that
claimed the lives of about 20 job
seekers nationwide, is not
registered.

Umbrella body of Outsourcing
companies in Nigeria, Human
Capital Providers Association of
Nigeria, HuCaPAN, which
disclosed this yesterday, said this
was the outcome of the
association's investigation from
the Ministry of Labour and
Productivity, saddled with the
responsibility of issuing licenses
to outsourcing companies.

HuCaPAN claims was confirmed
by an official of the Labour
Ministry who told Vanguard on
condition of anonymity that "the
affected company is not among
the over 700 registered recruiter
companies as at March 2014."
The association faulted the
claims by the Minister of Internal
Affairs that the company passed
through the Ministerial Tender
Board, declaring that the four
companies shortlisted before
Drexel were given the job were
not registered by the Federal
Government.

President of HuCaPAN, Mr. Neye
Enemigan, in a chat with
journalists at a national
workshop on "Strengthening the
role of private employment
agencies, PEAs in Human
resources development", jointly
organized by the Federal Ministry
of Labour and Productivity and
HuCaPAN, in Lagos, lamented that
the Federal Government could
engage the services of a
company not known to law.

According to him, "The
unfortunate death was
avoidable. It is something that
should not have happened in any
civilized country. It is a shame
and for me I feel very sad. I
express my condolence to the
family. The outsourcing
company is not our member. But
what is worse is that we have
taken pain to investigate and we
have found out this outsourcing
company is not even registered
to recruit. For example, the
Minister of Internal Affair, Mr.
Abba Moro said that they
followed due process and that
they shortlisted four companies;
Pyrich Global Limited, Bosmos
Infotech Limited, Rosebonny
Technologies Limited and Drexel
Technologies Limited, and that all
of them went through the
ministerial tenders board.

"We have investigated and found
out that all the four companies
are not registered to recruit. In
other word, the one that got the
job, Drexel Technologies Limited
is not registered, licenced or
authorised by law to engage in
that exercise. By Nigerian labour
law and to be specific, section
23, 24, 25 and 71 of the Labour
Act laws of the Federation of
Nigeria, 2004 makes it clear that
the Minister of Labour and
Productivity, will licence any
organisation that is a recruiter.

So, if you have not been licenced
by the Minister of Labour and
Productivity as a recruiter, what
you have doing is illegal. It is a
shame that the Federal
Government will engage a
company that is not known by
law to carry out this type of
exercise on Nigerians."
On money paid by the applicants,
he said "The company collected
according to what the Minister of
Internal Affairs said, over N700
million and also by law, no
prospective employee is required
to pay a Kobo to get a job. You
are not required to pay to get
form, you are not required to pay
for anything. That on its own is
also illegal.

"We want Nigerians to establish
that this company is quack and
the company should be dealt
with in accordance with the law.
The idea thing is to return the
money paid by the applicants.
The senate has set up into the
matter and I think it hold a public
hearings. We are hoping that it
would be done speedily and as
an association, we will like to
make presentation and give our
professional advice."

Reference: Vanguard