Amb Hussaini Coomassie wrote:-
Nigeria Immigration Service (NIS) as a Regimental Agency is tasked with the responsibility of manning Nigeria’s international borders, Passport Administration & Control, Aliens Control among others. However, over the years due to incompetence and self centred leadership from the NIS and inexperienced leadership skills of the supervising Ministry of Interior, the NIS has not been lucky with a devoted Minister. In hind sight, the recent past appointments of Ministers of Interior from Capt Iheanacho – Abba Moro – Danbazau and the worst is Ogbeni who has turned the Ministry to his private and tribal business, the minister has severally exposed Nigerians and Foreigners into unnecessary hardships, ranging from unrealistic and catastrophic passport shortage as a result of unwarranted new passport policy which has thrown nigerians into confusion, which in effect only generated money for selfishness through personalized waivers. Also by using his cronies to extort from nigerians in the name of waiver for speed processing. As it is now NIGERIANS are justifiably, from their point of view, attacking NIS whereas the real culprit is in the Ministry making ill intended passport policies for the service to implement. I have said this time and time again that if the presidency does not take Immigration out from the Interior Ministry then they should expect an abysmal nosedive in the administration of NIS. The only way out for now is to apply the Abacha method on Customs, to sanitize the entire system, clean up the service from the rank of Comptroller to the top and appoint a competent administrator for at least a period of 3yrs from the sister Agencies, especially from the DSS or RTD Immigration officers that have clean record of competency to administer and produce young vibrant and patriotic leadership that will take the service to the level of international best practice. We have loads of ill prepared and unpatriotic high ranking officers that clogged the system thereby making it difficult for the skillful ones to be noticed. Only the NIS, in the entire PARA MILITARY outfits, are still left far behind.
1. A very large percentage of Officers and Men do not even have basic knowledge of the job. On closer look you will find senior ranking Officers from the ranks of Asst Comptroller (ACI) and above who do not even have proper knowledge of the service, no schedule of duty, just roaming about offices like touts.
2. The NIS under past leadership failed to realise their importance at the Border Posts, which relegated them to lobbying for foreign, Airport, Passport & CERPAC postings.
The NIS on one hand must come to reassert the reality that Borders are under their Management and Control and definitely not any other Agency of the the FG. The FG on the other hand must provide adequate funding directly to the NIS, of course not in cash but in terms of logistics such as enough patrol vehicles, both regular and high terrain, as well as other operational gadgets to enable the officers and men perform their duties satisfactorily. We are in the era of Low Intensity Conflicts, instead of the Ministry and the Service to concentrate on other areas of importance, we’re busy duplicating passport offices across Nigeria and abroad. NIS is supposed to be the lead agency in Border Management and Control, but the kind of inferiority complex NIS staff have developed in the field due to lack of adequate training and retaining to make desired impact by Senior Management Level is so demoralizing. Instead of focusing on finding more avenues to contribute to National Security through effective Border Control, The Ministry controlled Agency has virtually turned Border Units to dumping/punishment grounds. NIS is clamouring for pay rise, but what exactly we they doing to justify our claims? The NIS has offices in all the 774 LGAs but non can be said to be adequately functional, what a pity. An anonymous officer added.
3. NIS is supposed to Chair the Governing Board of NAPTIP, but due to relegation of duty and negligence, NAPTIP has tactically Pulled out from the NIS supervision.
4. Most of the Official Developmental Assistance we are getting from foreign and local donors and partners are unaccounted for. The service is getting all those donations based on the fact that the FG has recognized NIS as the lead agency in Migration and anti human trafficking, unfortunately NIS doesn’t even have proper Data Management Unit for its staff talkless of operational Data Bank for it’s day to day activities, there is no effective Monitoring and Evaluation. So if I may ask, what has CG Babandede and those before him achieved in terms of digitization of the service during their tenure in office ? Definitely Visa on Arrival (VOA) and cosmetic substandard projects are not enough to justify the embezzlement of public funds under their care, running into hundreds of billions.
The level of impunity and insincerity with which NIS operates over the years are so alarming and disastrous for the future leadership of the service. The mess is so enormous that there is very little the sitting CG Jere can do about it within his short tenure. Its now the daunting task, therefore, of the incoming President that is expected to appoint a new CGI. I’m advocating that he should apply wisdom in ending the catastrophe that has engulfed the service for so many years. The service deserves to be freed from the tied rope of the Interior Ministry, otherwise review the mandate of the Ministry of Interior with regard to its relationship with the NIS.
21st June, 2023
