Job application fees? Duty of care? Negligence?
It is no longer news that lives were lost at the Nigerian Immigration Service (NIS) recruitment examination which took place on Saturday at various centers around the country. However Nigerians are left to wonder if this tragic event could not have been averted one way or the other; either by the Ministry or the ‘recruitment consultants’ whom Abbah Moro, the Interior Minister quite promptly brought into the picture.
Call it the direct effect of a failed state or what you may, the fact remains that lives have been lost and Nigerians are asking, between the Minister, the Comptroller General (CG) David Shikfu Parradang and ‘the Consultants’, shouldn’t someone have seen that ‘this money’ (and I don’t want to say, fraudulently collected), counted for something; such as a well-conducted and better managed recruitment process?
Background info has it that over six million Nigerians paid this application fee at N1, 000 per applicant and these were to sit for this exam on the same day; for only 4,000 vacant positions. The exchange of money is a commercial activity and the revenue from such a venture must be accounted for one way or the other.
Various government agencies, at the local, state and Federal level have made this a standard practice for recruitment and other processes. Early this year, Governor Emmanuel Uduaghan of Delta State had ordered the State’s Head of Service, Okey Ofili, to refund the N1000 paid by each applicant for employment into the civil service. This was after the State Government had advertised vacancies in some Ministries, Departments and Agencies in the state in December 2013.
The Governor had maintained that civil service jobs were not for sale and that no applicant should be made to pay anything to the state’s Civil Service Commission while applying for any job.
During a round check of some of these ministries and agencies, officials claimed that the fees were for ‘additional’ recruitment costs and other costs associated with the interviews and testing process. Then again, we are left to wonder why these ‘additional administrative costs’ are not included in their ‘outsized’ annual budgets, which should ordinarily cater for all administrative concerns; including human resource management.
Nonetheless, as we wonder and call for the sack of the minister, some very critical questions have been thrown up from this incident. One of such is the question of job application fees by government parastatals/agencies, but also important is the question as to whether any kind of job fee request, even by a private organisation is fundamentally necessary.
Speaking on the issue, commercial lawyer and Senior Associate at Perchstone & Graeys, Tolu Aderemi holds the view that the request for application fees by any government parastatal or agency(ies) is needless.
This is because not only is it the business of government to provide jobs (with a corresponding citizen’s obligation to pay taxes), all or most government parastatals have budgets within which printing of application forms and the conduct of such events are catered for.
I am aware that some government agencies do charge these fees and where they do, all monies made should be remitted to Federation Account. I doubt if this is the case. To that end, it is my considered opinion that entrance examination fees for applications must be discouraged for government offices,” he said.
For George Etomi, who is the Pioneer Chair of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) Section on Business Law and Principal Partner, George Etomi & Partners, whilst the act might not be expressly prohibited, he finds it obnoxious to charge money of any kind to process a job application.
He says, “Though not expressly provided for or considered illegal, I just think it is unconscionable to charge a fee for a job you may or may not give to an applicant; who in any case may not even have had the wherewithal to attend the test or interview. It doesn’t matter if it is a public or a private organisation. It is just unreasonable to do so and should be discouraged,” he emphasized.
Tolu Aderemi also agrees with this position. “Whilst there is no law that makes it legal or illegal, I know that there are Public Service Rules which ought to guide such and I am not aware such Rules make provision for charges to apply to applicants applying for public service jobs.”
“However, there is also the moral and ethical stance of ‘fleecing’ applicants,” Tolu observes, “and it is for that reason that it must be discouraged.”
For private organisations, Tolu has this to say, “Again there is no law that allows or forbids doing so. However, theirs (private companies) may be slightly justifiable bearing in mind that these examinations are conducted with private funds which should otherwise have formed profits of these companies. I am also very quick to admit that very few reputable private companies engage in this dishonest activity of charging examination (or test) fees for job vacancies.”
Indeed, in jurisdictions outside Nigeria, particularly in the United States, the legality of charging a fee for job applications depends on individual state laws. While a few states allow it, it is strictly prohibited in others, and this is for both private companies and government agencies.
In Hawaii, while job application fees for public agencies are allowed, it is strictly prohibited for private employers. Montana on the other hand, prohibits employers from charging potential employees the cost of medical examinations as a condition of employment.
Here in Nigeria, many fear that if the practice continues or is even encouraged, then we may face the risk of a higher level of ‘job application fee’ scams, which is presently on the rise, as many fraudulent organisations (who are only in the business of ‘APPLICATION FEES’) have sprung up over time for this singular purpose.
Nigerians are however asking ‘is it enough to call for the sack of the interior Minister or the CG?’ Whilst some think that the sack of the minister would be a move in the right direction, a few other stakeholders in the justice sector have raised questions of NEGLIGENCE, DUTY OF CARE, etc.
They believe that the families of the victims could get respite from the courts for their tragic loss. The question is if there was indeed a DUTY OF CARE, who owed that to the victims and their families? Whose duty was it to ensure their safety at this examination?
Aderemi, who also handles rights actions believes that the victims’ family may have a case in tort as it can be argued that the Federal Government, the Attorney General of the Federation, the Minister of Interior and Comptroller General of Immigrations all owe them a duty of care.
“In other words, an action in Negligence,” he says. “Now, the Plaintiff must be able to show that, he/she was invited for the exam, that he/she was injured as a result of the safety procedures laid down by the Ministry towards the conduct of the election; and that the injury could have been reasonably averted had the safety officers conducted the examination properly.
“There are a long line of particulars to satisfy the court that there is established a duty of care which has been breached, but indeed, bringing about 68,000 applicants into a 70,000 capacity stadium in Abuja clearly evidences the likely possibility of a stampede and this is a reasonably foreseeable event which should have been taken care of by the organiser(s),” he adds emphatically.
According to him, the Inspector General of Police (IGP) and the Nigerian Civil Defence Corps and Security (NCDCS) may also be joined as parties.
The generality of Nigerians believe that it is the duty of Government to create jobs; and the only condition should be the qualification of the applicant; no monetary conditions, no blood-shed.
Requesting payment (or fees) to consider a job seeker’s application would make the business a ‘staffing agency’ and this is for situations where the agency is acting independently whilst building its database of applicants; not where it has been hired and paid to conduct a test.
In the United States, a civil rights organisation known as Verité, is committed to fair, legal and safe hiring and work practices, and advises that employers commit to not charging fees of any kind for employment. It also recommends that employers do not work with suppliers, vendors or agencies that do charge job application or recruitment fees.
As the hopelessness of our present situation hit right home this past Saturday, Nigerians ever hopeful, look forward to a day where its government would provide for it, protect it, make laws that are relevant to time and situations and most importantly, implement and enforce these laws.
Until such a time as this, Nigerians simply ask that its ‘government’ does right, just this once.
Theodora Kio-Lawson