Irregular migration a threat to peaceful polls, immigration boss warns

Comptroller General of the Nigeria Immigration service, (NIS), Isah Idris, has said that irregular migration through the nation’s borders remains a security concern as Nigeria gets set to conduct the general elections this year, therefore all hands must be on deck to secure the borders.

He made this known at the commissioning of assorted radios and communication equipment worth millions of naira donated to the agency by international telecommunications infrastructure giant, IHS towers Nigeria, as part of its Corporate Social Responsibility, (CSR), yesterday in Abuja.

He pointed out that the donation of millions of naira worth of equipment will go a long way in boosting national security and enhancing the capacity of the agency to deliver better on its mandate

According to him, “These modern telecommunication radio equipment, will entrench a more effective and efficient integration and inter-connectivity between the service’s formations and the headquarters. This will further enhance and scale communication as part of efforts towards emplacing border patrol operations and strategies to combat recurring trend of irregular migration.

Appreciating IHS towers for the partnership, the CG said, “This support is equally coming at a very auspicious time particularly as the service is deploying regulated internal monitoring and control mechanism ahead of the fast approaching 2023 elections.

“This is in view of the fact that this national exercise places enormous task on NIS to not only effect the presidential directive on border closure during the elections, but to equally work with other security agencies as stakeholders to guarantee the conduct of free and elections,” he said.

Speaking on the importance of partnering with the immigration service towards national security, Chief Executive Officer, (CEO), IHS towers, Muhammed Darwish, noted the importance of working with security agencies to safeguard Nigeria.

Darwish said “There is actually nothing more noble than giving back to the community that we operate in through the various government agencies that do a lot to keep this country safe and in order and the immigration service under the leader ship of the comptroller general, Isah Idris, has done a lot to safeguard the borders of Nigeria and I think we have legitimate duty and reliability on us to actually do whatever we can in our capacity to assist in any way possible

“The donation of these telecommunication equipment is a small token of appreciation towards what the immigration service has accomplished in Nigeria and to the comptroller general for his able guidance and leadership.”

A Memorandum of Understanding, (MoU), was also signed by the two organisations to deepen security collaboration.