Five female immigration officers queried for taking part in social media ‘Don’t Rush Challenge’, risk dismissal

By DENNIS EREZI

Some female officers of the Nigeria Immigration Service who featured in a ‘Don’t Rush Challenge’ may be dismissed from service for their involvement in the viral video.

“The attention of the Comptroller General has been drawn to a video clip trending in the social media in recent times which revealed a rather disturbing and embarrassing display of indecent flaunting of your bodies,” assistant comptroller of the immigration Iam Haliru said in a query letter.

He said their appearance in the video was in “desecration of Service uniform/beret and the use of inappropriate language thereby, sabotaging the values upheld by the Service.”

Five female officers of the service shot a 57 seconds video to participate in a social media trend. Three of the officers were identified as Priscilla Irabor, Catherine Bakura and Blessing Udida.

In the video, the officers wore their uniforms, switching to mufti at every 12 to 15 seconds interval while dancing to ‘Bop Daddy’, a recent song by Nigerian rapper Falz.

A similar video uploaded on YouTube showed American service members changing their outfits while a soundtrack ‘Don’t Rush’ played in the background. The officers did not face any disciplinary action by the authorities.

Nigerians, however, expressed diverse views on the officers’ participation in the video.

Some believe that it was wrong for the officers to appear in the video with their full official uniforms, while others think the video could be used to shape public perception of the government’s agency.

But Haliru said the video “has caused a lot of embarrassment to the NIS and in line with our standard as a paramilitary organization is considered scandalous and an act unbecoming of an Officer and therefore a violation of Public Service Rule (PSR) 030401 and 030402.

“This is a serious misconduct liable to dismissal from Service.”

The officers were asked to present themselves to the authorities “within 72 hours on receipt of this letter, why disciplinary action should not be taken against you for violation of the following: Immoral Behaviour, Sabotage and any other act unbecoming of a public officer.” (The Guardian)