The Comptroller General of the Nigeria Immigration Service (NIS), Isa Jere, has lamented the porous nature of the country’s borders, saying there were over 1490 illegal routes into the country.
The NIS boss disclosed this at the Newton Park Hotel, Abuja, during the opening ceremony of a two day National Conference organised by the Nigerian Immigration Lawyers Association (NILA) in conjunction with the NIS.
He was represented by the Assistant Comptroller-General in Charge of Border Control, Mohammed Aminu Mohammed.
Jere urged the authorities to take proactive steps to address the challenge as part of ways to address influx of movements into the country and checkmate the attendant security problems.
The Comptroller General said there is urgent need to upscale the budget of the NIS to enable it carry out surveillance, intelligence and monitoring activities using the latest technology and man power.
Jere said there were only 25,000 immigration officers to man Nigerian borders of over 5,000 kilometres and a population of over 200 million citizens.
He said the Service was doing a lot to curtail influx of migrants into the country, noting that though some of their efforts were not seen by the public.
He said recently about 50 personnel were deployed to some strategic border posts in Taraba and Ogun states, while steps were being taken by the Service to deploy technology equipment for intelligence gathering, data analysis and improved surveillance systems to the borders.
Jere said all over the world, governments commit substantial resources and huge amounts of money to protect their borders in other to ensure the security and well-being of citizens, and urged the country to emulate such in national interests.
President of the Association, Prof Epiphany Azinge (SAN), said the conference was organised to promote synergy and draw attention to critical areas of collaboration with the NIS, stating that the efforts would put the country in better perspectives as far as Immigration Services are concerned.
He commended the leadership of the Agency for some of the policies being implemented, asserting that going forward the relationship would focus search lights into the country’s Immigration Act and Laws for improvement of services and the legal system.
