Immigration to recruit 5,000 officers over five years – Moro

The Minister of Interior, Abba Moro, on Friday said the Federal Government planned to recruit 5,000 officers into the Nigeria Immigration Service over the next five years.

Moro said this in Abuja at the 2014 Comptroller-General’s annual conference and stakeholder’s forum in commemoration of the 50th anniversary of the service.

The two-day conference was organised by the service with the theme: “Effective Border Control Systems and Procedures for National Security.”

Moro said the recruitment was aimed at enabling the service to increase the number of officers manning the country’s 4,400 square kilometre borders.

He said: “The fact that we have fewer than 23,000 immigration officers manning our very long stretch of border means there is need to add more men into the service.

“We owe Nigeria and Nigerians the duty of securing our borders in spite of the security challenges the country is facing now.”

Moro said due to the extensive responsibilities of the service, the ministry was committed to supporting it towards being a world class migration management organisation in technologically-driven society.

He added: “The Nigeria Immigration Service has been participating actively in the fight against insurgency in the North East and cross border organised crimes and criminality.

“We have lost some officers in the line of duty but I am pleased to note that in spite of all odds and challenges, our officers and men are fighting on.”

Moro urged the officers to be committed in their service delivery and ensure that they delivered on President Goodluck Jonathan’s charge to deliver travel documents to Nigerians within 24 hours.

He said “business as usual” would no longer be tolerated, adding that corruption and extortion would be appropriately sanctioned.

Earlier, the Comptroller-General of the NIS, David Parradang, had called for the recruitment of at least 5,000 new officers annually into the service over the next five years.

Paradang expressed concern over the unmanned 1,400 illegal border routes in the country.

He said that while there were only 84 approved land routes across the over 4,000 square-kilometre border, the over 1,400 illegal routes caused serious security implications for the country.

He said: “NIS presently has a total of 22,321 staff and the enormous statutory obligations of the NIS coupled with emerging migration trends and trajectories make this number of personnel grossly inadequate.

“The un-demarcated and poorly marked borders make settlement of people in border communities intertwined and stringent control by the service apparently difficult.

“There is equally the challenge of uncooperative attitude of border communities in assisting law enforcement agents in carrying out their duties.”

Paradang said the service needed funds to purchase patrol vehicles, aircraft, boats and communication gadgets such as radio, scanners/readers, protective gears and modern arms and ammunition.

He, therefore, called for increase in budgetary allocation to enable the service contain the challenges of modern migration management.

He also called for the construction of border plazas equipped with radars, sensors, cargo and document scanners and modern border patrol aircraft, boats, vehicles and communication gadgets.

He said: “Improved training and re-training of our personnel is also required to enable them cope with the dynamics of modern migration management.

“Given the enabling environment and the necessary support, the service can be placed on a better pedestal to guarantee a more improved performance.”

The conference was organised to examine the role of NIS in the country’s security system as a vital tool for national development.

It was also organised to appraise the activities and operations of the service over the years in view of security challenges and involvement of the service in containing the menace.

The Chairman of the Senate Committee on Interior, Senator Atiku Bagudu, and his House of Representatives counterpart, Hon. Umar Bature, as well as retired officers of the service attended the conference.