The Nigerian Immigration Service (NIS), has commenced an investigation into reports of widespread corruption at the borders of the country where officers of the Service and other security agencies were caught allegedly taking bribes to facilitate the movement of illegal migrants in and out of the country.
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The Public Relations Officer of the NIS in charge of the Seme Border and a Deputy Comptroller, Sunday James, told our correspondent that the media reports prompted the Comptroller General of Immigration, Mohammed Babandede to order an intensive investigation into the matter and report back to him.
BusinessDay investigations had through a video and report that went viral, revealed massive corruption where officers of the Immigration Service and other security agencies- the police and army were allegedly captured in the video collecting bribes to facilitate illegal movements of aliens in and out of Nigeria.
These cases at the borders according to the report appears more rampant in the northern parts especially that of Sokoto and Yobe states amidst the perceived porous nature of Nigerian borders.
James said that officers of the service identified in the video will be sanctioned according to the law if they are found culpable.
“The officers that were identified were brought to the headquarters and they are going to go through the due process of both administrative and professional procedures that have to do with our standard operation. So the public is enjoined to keep their eyes on the operatives and report back to us,” he said.
The PRO said further that the Service has made tremendous achievements in the area of border control by the introduction of e- border where the service has deployed technology to monitor movements across the borders. He noted also that the nation has embarked on effective visa and passport system that is helping the Service to control the borders including e-registration.
He also said the Nigerian borders are not porous as being insinuated stressing, however, that there are unmanned spaces.
“It is because of the unmanned spaces that the Federal Government introduced the Operation Quick Response that brought the military, the immigration, and Customs together so that when we have a full force on the ground, we will be able to make sure that these places are covered. Beyond that, the NIS is going into e-border solution where we are deploying advanced technology to help us monitor our borders even from the headquarters here,” he said.
