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New immigration boss warns officers against extortion

By Odita Sunday
11 September 2015   |   12:57 am
THE newly appointed Comptroller General of Immigration (CGI), Mr. Kure Martins Abeshi, has war officers and men of the service at airports and Immigration passport offices to stop demanding for extra money for services rendered.

AbeshiTHE newly appointed Comptroller General of Immigration (CGI), Mr. Kure Martins Abeshi, has war officers and men of the service at airports and Immigration passport offices to stop demanding for extra money for services rendered.

He warned that anyone found culpable would be sacked. Abeshi, who gave this warning during his first on-the-spot visit to the Murtala Muhammed International Airport and Alausa passport office, Ikeja, yesterday, pleaded with officers to learn to live within their means and be contented with what they have. “It is now a crime for any officer to collect more than what government approved that applicants should pay.

Change is real and we will enforce it. We are lacking in so many things because of corrupt practices. We all should support our President to stop corruption. “Meanwhile the Nigeria Immigration Service (NIS) is taking the welfare of our officers and men very seriously.

We shall look at various proposals on welfare schemes, just as we invite suggestions from all in this regard.” He described extortion as not just unethical, embarrassing but also demeaning to the image of the service.

According to the new CGI, in the era of change there is need for every officer to change his or her way to be in tandem with the spirit of the new Nigeria as piloted by President Buhari. According to him, “We must be determined to shun corrupt practices and become Nigeria’s good public relation officers. Officers who fail to fall in line will be shown the way out.”

On the current security challenges bedeviling the country, Abeshi said that NIS would give more emphasis to border patrol and control. “Already, we have a border management system that conforms to international security standards in our Electronic Passenger Registration System (e-PARS).

But we have to ensure our officers and men that man this system provide smooth facilitation even as they keep out extremists and other prohibited immigrants. “This administration will give priority to our borders. So far, we have trained 2,100 officers and men as pioneer members of the Border Patrol Corps,” he said.

2 Comments

  • Author’s gravatar

    The embassies of Nigeria are collecting extra money to give passports , life evidence is Nigeria embassy in Switzerland . I paid extra 100 chf to get my passport . It is shame of the whole officers working in the embassy . Just shame of them. This information should to NIS chief . Is real not joke . Everyone complains about the treatment the Nigeria embassy in Switzerland is doing to Nigerians . Victor

  • Author’s gravatar

    “New Immigration boss warns officers against extortion”. How many a times have Nigerian institutional heads warned their functionaries of extortion, and how many times have these warnings been obeyed??????? These are the same old rethoric that characterises the language of Nigerian new bosses. And why do these warnings fail woefully to achieve any changes??? Maybe because the bosses themselves may have been beneficiaries of what they claim need stopping. Then, the sentiment of “you don chop before, na my own turn to chop now and……….”. As a nation, we really need to put on our thinking caps to come up with real, pragmatic and sustainable ways to turn around our corrupt ways of doing things. More creativity in these issues, rather than the same old worn out regular sales talk.