Immigration captures biometrics of 856 migrants in Bayelsa

By : Editor

Date: 25 December 2019 4:27am WAT

Immigration officers walk on a suspension bridge built in 1948 that connects Nigeria with Cameroon at Mfum border station in Cross Rivers State, southeast Nigeria on February 1, 2018. The UN refugee agency on February 1, 2018 criticised Nigeria for breaching international agreements after the leader of a Cameroonian anglophone separatist movement and his supporters were extradited at Yaounde's request. Cameroon's government is fighting an insurgency by a group demanding a separate state for two regions that are home to most of the country's anglophones, who account for about a fifth of the population. Thousands of Cameroonians fled to the remote border region with Nigeria to escape from the violences in English-speaking southwest Cameroon. / AFP PHOTO / PIUS UTOMI EKPEI

The Nigeria Immigration Service (NIS) has registered no fewer than 856 migrants in Bayelsa State as part of the ongoing e-registration in the country.

Comptroller of the command, Felix Odika, told reporters yesterday in Yenagoa that the exercise was for foreigners, who had stayed or are to be in the country beyond 90 days.

He said: “The programme is a bid to safeguard and secure the country’s internal security.

“So far, we have registered over 856, the exercise mandated all expatriates staying beyond 90 days in Nigeria to go to the nearest Immigration centre for the e-registration.

“It started on July 12 in Abuja and the deadline is January 2020 because it will run for six months.

“The idea is to register all foreign nationals to enable us to monitor them properly.”

Odika urged employers of labour, landlords, hoteliers and other citizens to support the programme by ensuring that foreigners provide proof of registration before attending to them.

He said the programme was open to any non-indigene who intends to stay in Nigeria for a period exceeding 90 days.

The comptroller added that foreigners from ages 18 and above were eligible for the e-registration.

He, however, said persons enjoying diplomatic immunity and those staying less than 90 days were not part of the project.