The Federal Government has said that the Nigerian Immigration Service (NIS) is now well-equipped with advanced technology to curtail any security breach in Nigeria’s borders.
A statement by the Deputy Director of the ministry’s Press and Publicity Relations Unit, Afonja Ajibola, said the Minister of Interior Rauf Aregbesola made the assertion while exchanging views with a delegation from UAE National Defence College who came on a field study visit to the ministry as part of their course work.
Aregbesola, who was represented by the ministry’s Permanent Secretary, explained that Nigeria now has a competent electronic border security architecture to effectively secure the country.
Challenges remain: The minister, however, said that the proliferation of heavy and light weapons, porous borders, and the influx of illegal migrants into the country were serious challenges facing the country.
He identified regional cooperation and collaboration of Nigeria with sister security agencies of neighboring countries as one way of tackling the problem. According to him, such an international partnership has contributed to renewed achievements of the military assisted by other sister security agencies to decimate the terrorists.
- Responding to questions from the Delegation, the minister explained that corruption and Terrorism were global problems facing humanity. He added that the good news was that everyone knew the zero-tolerance standpoint of President Muhammadu Buhari on the menace.
- On fighting corruption, Aregbesola also made it clear that the country had a robust law in place for fighting corruption through specialized agencies like the Economic and Financial Crimes Communion (EFCC) among others.
In his remarks, the leader of the delegation, Maheli Babi, appreciated the minister for the reception. He promised that his country would enter into a bilateral cooperation agreement with the Nigerian National Defence College (NDC).
In case you missed it: Earlier this year, the federal government awarded the contract for the installation of an electronic border surveillance system to monitor the nation’s land borders to checkmate illegal migration.
- Aregbesola had said the electronic digital technology would be deployed by the federal government across the nation’s border to ensure 24/7 surveillance of 5,000 kilometers of border lines from the eastern part to the western part of the country.
- He also explained that the electronic surveillance posts were meant to strengthen existing immigration checks, enhance effective migration management as well as boost the security of the country.
