Sixteen desperate Nigerian jobseekers died and 21 were seriously injured Saturday during recruitment exercises across the country for the immigration service, officials said Sunday.

In Enugu, South-East Nigeria, four people were crushed to death and 21 others were seriously injured while trying to open a gate, the Controller of Nigeria Immigration Service (NIS) in Enugu State, David Paradang, said Sunday.

An eyewitness told Deutsche Presse-Agentur dpa that 500 candidates were told to race to a venue and that only the fastest would be considered for the next stage of recruitment.

'We found the place locked and decided to try to force the gate open...but many passed out in the process,' he said.

In Kaduna, in the north, eight candidates, three of whom were women, lost their lives in the fitness exercise conducted by the Immigration Service.

Another twelve died across the country during the fitness exercises, including a pregnant woman.

The immigration service was screening 197,000 applicants jostling for 3,000 jobs.

Despite the West African nation's oil wealth, many Nigerians live in poverty.