By Kelvin Osa Okunbor
Nigeria Immigration Service (NIS) has called on traditional rulers and residents in border communities to be actively involved in safeguarding the borders and discourage all forms of illegal migration.
Engagement of such persons, the Service said is part of new strategies needed in the new drive to scale up effective border control management, which is a critical component of national security architecture.
The move, the Immigration said will checkmate the influx of illegal settlers into the country as the border control agency concludes plans to review its Visa Policy (NVP 2020) and Border Management Strategy documents.
Comptroller General of the NIS, Muhammad Babandede, who disclosed this in Lagos Thursday at the opening of a management retreat organised in partnership with the United Nation’s International Organization for Migration (IOM) said NIS was mulling the idea of replacing the ECOWAS travel certificate packaged as paper document with a bio- metric card to be swiped at the borders for persons travelling frequently within the sub region.
The new arrangement, he said will reduce incidence of frequently stamping of passports, which not only waste paper, but needs overhaul as most countries are now adopting technology for efficient border control.
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This is just as Babandede called on all third party custodians of the service’s data information to relinquish it as the NIS’ Technology Building is fully activated with the servers running efficiently ready and all the servers are set.
Babandede said the three-day senior management retreat was aimed at strengthening migration management through best practices.
According to the CGI, an effective border management system and visa/residency administration policy is key to enhancing the nation’s security architecture with possibility to attract Foreign Direct Investments (FDIs) for enduring prosperity.
He said, “As a country with expansive and extensive borderlines, we must be courageous enough to sincerely interrogate our country’s security and migration management cover with a view to discovering our strengths, weaknesses and areas of urgent interventions.
“We need to re-examine our current investment on our relationship with members of border communities and the traditional institutions. I see a need to re-enforce, re-negotiate and perhaps revamp our current approach for meaningful engagements.
He went on, “We have a huge opportunity in this meeting to critically interrogate our current efforts in these areas with a view to bringing about the desired reforms that will not only allow for improved service delivery but also enhance our relevance in the nation’s security and investment ecosystem.
He also said the government of Nigeria is committed to the Migration Information and Data Analysis System (MIDAS) through e-Technology calling on third parties to bring back its data.
“The technology building is a building that will gather real time technology not only for Nigeria but the world so the government of Nigeria has invested massively in technology. With this technology building we want to take our data from third-party, and I urge the honorable minister that we are ready, all the servers are set. Those companies that have our data should bring it back to us because it is our data. If I don’t take it before I go, you take it when I’ve left.”
Speaking earlier, Chief of Mission, International Organization for Migration (IOM), Mr. Frantz Celestin applauded the partnership between the Immigration and the IOM which has enabled the latter support Government of Nigeria to establish a reinforced management information system.
According to him, the system: Migration Information and Data Analysis System (MIDAS) has revolutionized the country’s border management operations which strengthened NIS’ digital data collection and storage capacity.
He said, “Nigeria has the largest and most complex MIDAS architecture in the world. All five international airports in Nigeria have been covered with MIDAS, 29 per cent of the Seaports and 16 per cent of the land borders and 7 state commands. All five airports have online real time connectivity with INTERPOL 24/7 and supported with over 130 work stations and border management equipment.
“The foreigner registration system is another tool that the NIS has at its disposal to effectively account for foreign nationals residing in the country and to regularize them when necessary. First piloted at the NIS HQ and Cross-River State Command, the system is now operational in 36 states.”
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