By Nkechi Okoronkwo
Marrakech – In a bid to ensure standard procedures and practice in the handling of goods and services at its borders, Nigeria Immigration Service is developing a national border policy strategy.
Comptoller-General of Immigration Mohammed Babandede said this in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Marrakech, Morocco on Wednesday.
He said that the policy would boost the existing National Migration Policy, minimize corrupt practices and limit the presence of the military at the borders.
“We need to develop the smaller policies on migration like the border management policy; if you don’t have a border strategy, it would be difficult to effectively manage the borders.
“Immigration service is the agency charged with providing leadership in border management so that there will be a standard strategy on what to do and we have just called a meeting of stakeholders.
“If you go to Jibia Border (in Katsina State) and if you go to Seme Border (Ogun), let there be standard practice in the procedure for handling passengers and goods.
“With the policy, we can stand for all other law enforcement agencies at the border; we can give them information when they require it.
“If it is escalation, we can escalate it to the military; we don’t want the military to be everywhere at our borders; only when there is requirement for that.’’
He said that President Muhammadu Buhari had ordered that rules should not be changed due to corrupt practices but that a single rule should be put in place.
Babandede said this would ensure that anyone who violated the rule would be charged for non-compliance or refusing to comply.
As part of measures to minimize corruption, he advised Nigerians to take advantage of the agency’s online services in the areas of application for passport and visa on arrival.
“We have made a website available — www.immigration.gov.ng. We encourage Nigerians to pay for facilities online; don’t come to our office to apply for visa or apply for passport with cash; by so doing, you even give chance for corrupt practices.
“We have liberalized visa on arrival. You only need to apply and send an email to onarrival@nigeria immigration.gov.ng; you will be issued visa on arrival; we are removing contact between individuals and our officers so that we reduce the possibility of corruption.’’
According to him, the service last year, dismissed many officers for corrupt practices and last week organised an award ceremony, where some staff members were honoured for fighting corruption, alongside those who had distinguished themselves in service delivery and fighting Boko Haram.
“Last year, we dismissed a lot of officers for corrupt practices and just last week, we had an award night, where we appreciated those who fought corruption, those who delivered services better and those who gallantly fought in the war against Boko Haram.’’
Commenting on the Global Compact for Migration (GCM) adopted by 164 UN-members states including Nigeria on Monday, Babandede noted that the NIS, just as other immigrations services worldwide, was key to migration management.
“Immigration is fundamental in many ways if migration has to be managed in a safe, orderly, regular and beneficial way to receiving, transit and destination countries and to the individual migrant.
“First, we issue the travel document; we are in charge of borders; we issue visas for others to enter our territory; if we don’t understand how to do this, it will create a negative impact on our country.’’
He said that by successfully negotiating the Global Compact, the world community had come to realise the importance of migration, stressing that “it is not a disease to be cured like Malaria but something to be managed for the good of our countries.’’
He explained that there are two extreme schools of thought on migration isues among nations.
“You can see the two extreme sides of the argument; some people take migration to be a disease that should be cured because it has caused problem globally while some people see it as part of governance.
“If you see it as a disease, yes, a lot of our citizens have died in the desert and in the sea; so we need to manage it to make sure they don’t die. But if you see it as governance, it also needs to be managed properly.’’
Babandede described Nigeria as a melting pot for migrants from other nations just as many Nigerians had migrated to other countries particularly in Africa and not only made huge investments but also controlling the economies of those countries.
“Look at our banks, they are everywhere; our telecommunications; our cement, our transport vehicles.
“They are all in West Africa; so migration is a balance of the coin; protectionism will not help anybody either goods or human beings; human beings and goods need to grow.’’
On the border challenge confronting the agency, the comptroller-general commended President Muhammadu Buhari for approving the construction and development of a technology building that would serve as a command and control centre for immigration service.
He said that modern technology would be deployed on completion of the facility for real time monitoring of activities at the borders, in addition to human and vehicular patrols.
“This means that we will put human patrol and vehicles together with technology, where we can see what is happening real time along our borders and react by talking to the appropriate law enforcement agencies to assist.
“If it is a huge problem like invasion, the army can take over but we have been doing our best to handle the border challenge not through local approach but through modern technology.’’
Mohammed further commended Nigeria Customs Service in its efforts at checking smuggling of firearms, money and unwholesome goods into the country, in spite of the porous nature of the borders.