The Comptroller General of the Nigerian Immigration Service (NIS) General Muhammad Babandede, has directed that the redeployment of five female officers who took part in a viral social media dance challenge be put on hold pending the conclusion of internal investigations.
In a statement posted on its official Twitter handle on Friday, May 15, the NIS said staff deployment remains a vital practice of regimented organisations and that it maintains zero tolerance to matters bordering on offences against discipline among members of its workforce irrespective of gender.
WITHIN NIGERIA had reported on Wednesday how the female officers were reassigned to different locations as punishment for taking part in the “bopdaddychallenge”.
There reassignment was contained in a memo which stated that the officers are expected to report within 7 days and bear the cost of the relocation.
Participants in the video challenge basically transforms from one look to an another after the camera of their phones were covered for a while.
The officers identified as Priscilla Irabor, Catherine J. Bakura, Blessing Alfred Udida, Binti I. Attabor and Ockiya Eneni had been queried in April after the video went viral.
In the query, the immigration authorities accused the female officers of “indecently flaunting their bodies” and desecrating the service “uniform/beret and the use of inappropriate language thereby, sabotaging the values upheld by the service.”
But on Friday, the Nigerian Immigration through its official twitter handle, announced the decision to suspend the punitive postings.
“The attention of the Comptroller General Muhammad Babandede MFR has been drawn to some trending matters on some social media platforms regarding the deployment of some of our Personnel to some Formations across the country,” the statement said
“It is important to note that staff deployment remains a vital practice of regimented organizations such as ours and should be seen as such. As an agency, we maintain zero tolerance to any matters bordering on offences against discipline among members of our workforce irrespective of gender.
“We have high premium for staff development and indeed encourage personal efforts but that must be within the confines of our rules and regulations.
“The matter involving the Personnel in question is still being investigated and therefore,the Comptroller General has directed that the earlier Posting Order be put on hold pending the conclusion of the investigation.”
Meanwhile, Pop artist Folarin Falana aka “Falz”, whose song was used in the video has written to the Nigerian Immigration service demanding for the agency to reconsider the decision to repost the female officers.
See his letter below.
Hi @nigimmigration I have sent a letter to the Comptroller-General of the NIS concerning the #Immigration5 Please treat as urgent cc @babandedemb pic.twitter.com/4INj59h9vT
— Bop Daddy (@falzthebahdguy) May 15, 2020
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