Seven months after the Nigeria Immigration Service, NIS, recruitment exercise which led to the demise of 19 applicants and left scores injured across the country, victims of the stampede in Benin have protested the federal government’s non fulfillment of promises made to them.

The victims who in company of members of their families, carried posters bearing captions such as, “We are traumatised immigration victims still without jobs,” “Please, allow the souls of the departed NIS victims to rest in peace” and “Mr. Goodluck Jonathan, we are still waiting for your promise,”

Over 20,000 applicants had gathered at the Samuel Ogbemudia stadium, Benin, for the ill-fated recruitment exercise, which claimed the life of one Sandra Aigbevoile-Amu‎, while more than 20 others sustained various degree of injuries.

It will be recalled that after the unfortunate incident, which drew the attention of the world to the ugly unemployment situation in Nigeria, President Goodluck Jonathan, on 19 March, 2014, ordered that three employment slots be set aside for each of the families of those who lost their lives in the stampede and that all those who sustained injuries should be given automatic employment in the Service.

The president also ordered that the N1,000 compulsory recruitment form fee be refunded to all the applicants throughout the country.

The victims who stormed the Press Centre of the Nigeria Union of Journalists, NUJ, in Benin, noted that they were still eagerly awaiting the implementation of the promise made to them by President Jonathan several months after the unfortunate incident.‎