The Nation Newspaper

Tag: Dr. Olubunmi Tunji-Ojo

  • NIS stops 14 internationally flagged persons from entering Nigeria

    NIS stops 14 internationally flagged persons from entering Nigeria

    The Nigeria Immigration Service (NIS) has stopped 14 internationally flagged persons of interest from entering Nigeria, the Minister of Interior Dr Olubunmi Tunji-Ojo said at the weekend. 

    Dr Tunji-Ojo said the development was a major breakthrough in the country’s fight against terrorism and cross-border crime.

    The Minister disclosed this during the official unveiling of the Modernising Nigeria Immigration Service (MoNIS) Workforce Project.

    The NIS career progression, training policy framework and gender mainstreaming policy were developed with the support of the Danish Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the International Centre for Migration Policy Development (ICMPD).

    It was aimed at strengthening the NIS in key areas of its operation.

    Tunji-Ojo emphasised that these accomplishments were achieved by the dedicated officers of the NIS who performed admirably without relying on assistance from other agencies.

    He said the arrests were made possible by advanced technology, which allowed the service to track and review the profiles of individuals before they even arrived at Nigerian borders.

    He said: “I am proud to say that the Nigerian Immigration Service is now doing business in an extraordinary way. From all indications, it is now positioned to compete with the best services in the world and defend the integrity of our nation.”

    The minister acknowledged that illegal migration had long posed persistent challenges to the country and stressed the necessity of institutionalising strategies to combat the issue. 

    He said modernising the Nigeria Immigration Service is not just an option but a necessity for the nation’s security.

    He emphasised that President Bola Tinubu’s Renewed Hope Agenda is not merely about promises but about achieving real results through thoughtful resolutions and timely implementation.

    He said the President is committed to driving meaningful reforms to automate and modernize the NIS, to secure Nigeria’s borders and combat all forms of insecurity. 

    “President Tinubu is ready to approve the necessary resources to resolve issues, and we are committed to making these reforms a reality,” he added.

    Tunji-Ojo expressed optimism about the future of the NIS, stating that the days of overlooking qualified individuals with immense potential to contribute to the service are over. 

    “Once fully modernised and automated, the NIS will ensure a safer border and a more secure nation.

    “We are dealing with evolving patterns of crime, driven by advanced technologies and methodologies employed by smugglers, traffickers, and other criminals.

    “We must stay ahead of them, as they continue to innovate. Allowing criminals to be one step ahead of the state will lead to chaos and destruction,” Tunji-Ojo warned. 

    In her speech, the Comptroller-General of the Nigeria Immigration Service (NIS), Kemi Nanna Nandap, described the launch of the projects as the culmination of years of effort by officers of the service, stakeholders, and consultants who worked tirelessly under the Modernising Nigeria Immigration Service (MoNIS) Workforce Project. 

    Their efforts led to the development of key policy documents designed to guide the service in the efficient and effective management of human resources.

    Emphasizing that these policy documents directly address the efficient management of personnel, she noted that they also embedded professionalism and the core values of the service into the daily routines of its officers. 

    She explained that the importance placed on entrepreneurship as a critical factor of production makes the project particularly relevant for the service. 

    It will empower personnel to implement reforms and policies more pragmatically, thereby building a stronger institution capable of driving the service’s mandate, Mrs Nandap said. 

  • Govt to improve security screening for eligible travellers

    Govt to improve security screening for eligible travellers

    Minister of Interior,  Dr. Olubunmi Tunji-Ojo said the government is continuously working to improve the security screening process to ensure travellers have a smooth and efficient screening experience, while maintaining the highest standards of security to keep Nigerians safe.

    Speaking   during The Big Interview – Episode 2 organised by the State House, Abuja, hosted by O’tega Ogra, Dr. Tunji-Ojo highlighted reforms being undertaken to transforming the ministry and its agencies, from prison reforms, enhanced border security, national assets protection, and fair remuneration for personnel to improved emergency responses and streamlined immigration processes.

    According to him, extensive reforms and upgrades have been initiated and were capable of transforming key sectors that impact the nation’s security and efficiency.

    He said: “The Ministry of Interior is responsible for citizenship Integrity, enhancement of internal security amongst other things. We have the Nigerian Correctional Service (NCS), Nigerian Immigration Service (NIS), and Federal Fire Service and of course the National Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC). When we came on board last year, we began with stocktaking. As professionals we had to spend time planning so execution will be easy. We’ve been able to do that across all our agencies.

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    “We have short term, medium and long-term plans. We have been able to achieve our short term goals that we had for ourselves. For example in NIS, the short term goal was to clear our backlog of over 204,000 passports that we inherited.

    We cleared that slightly in less than 3 weeks.

    We made sure that the passport backlog has become something of the past that will never happen again. We went through our automation process which is basically broken into three different stages. In terms of our short-term targets, we have   achieved the first two. The medium term Target is of course the third one which is where we are now. The first one is of course automating the application process- that we have started.   Today, we have saved the government of billions of naira.  We used to pay for archiving of    documents.  Today, we have automated that process. Applicants now upload their documents by themselves.

    “We used to pay N200 per applicant for archiving about 3 million passports a year. That is about N600 million.  So we have saved the government that money and yet it’s even more convenient because people can now do that on their own.”

    According to him, the process is on to equip NIS to start delivering passports to applicants at home.

     “We have moved now to the stage where passports will be delivered to homes. We has integrated the solution. Everything is already sorted. The third stage which is the last stage in terms of the automation process is the ability to go contactless in terms of our passport renewal process like what we see in other climes. That people find it difficult to believe will happen is one major challenge for me as the Minister of Interior,” he said.

    He said every effort is being made to encourage passengers to submit documents in advance and save time travelling.

    “You don’t have to go to immigration office to renew your passport. These are things that you do on your system and you automate the whole process and all that. When we developed the solution we saw that there was no data center. One of the first things we listed in our short- long-term plan was to establish a data centre.

    “We have been able to achieve it now to the glory of God.   NIS has a data center which is the first data center that the service has had in 61 years of existence. So what it basically means is that the Integrity of the data of Nigerians is within our control because we take biometric details of people; Nigerians most especially. We are saddled with the responsibility of warehousing and protecting this data. Securing this data ensures the sanctity and integrity of the data and that’s one thing we’ve been able to achieve in Immigration,” Dr. Tuni-Ojo said

    He indicated that dedicated screening lines will be available at domestic and international checkpoints in the airports to help ease congestion over time.