Ibadan explosion: ‘Proper monitoring of migrants key to security’

• Expert tasks NIS on effective border policing
• Says ECOWAS regulations on migration must be observed

A migration researcher and Head of Department of History, University of Ibadan (UI), Prof. Rasheed Olaniyi, yesterday, called for proper monitoring of migrants into the country to prevent a re-occurrence of last Tuesday’s explosion in Ibadan.

Olaniyi, who has been doing research on immigration and influx of miners into Ibadan since 2011, gave the advice during an interview with The Guardian in Ibadan, the Oyo State capital.

The professor lamented that the nation’s borders are extremely porous, urging the Nigerian Immigration Service (NIS) to continue to reinvent itself, take new measures, and adopt global best services, especially in enforcing laws on our borders.

He said: ”The Bodija blast is part of this ungovernable thing. It is like the government is not controlling in terms of migration and monitoring of miners’ activities.

“We have laws concerning minerals and mines in Nigeria. Despite all these laws, the stakeholders in the mining sector do not follow all these rules and regulations.
”The Federal Government established a Ministry of Mines and so on, but this was not strictly encouraged, especially with the discovery of oil in the early 1970s. So, the sector was abandoned. So, between then and now, we have a lot of artisanal miners. People call them illegal miners but as a scholar, I call them artisanal miners.

”They are from Mali, Senegal, Guinea, Gambia and other countries.
The Historian, therefore, urged government to strictly observe the regulations of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) on free mobility for just three months, saying:”I know that we are surrounded by countries where we share similar cultural affinities but we should put sentiment aside when dealing with border management.

“I know that our immigration officers are very efficient but we must make sure we enforce the ECOWAS regulations on free mobility for just three months. After three months, migrants must be monitored closely.”