From the plethora of achievements of his predecessor CGI Muhammad Babandede (Rtd) and a strong will to consolidate on the various developmental programmes on ground, from enhanced advocacy of the Ease of Doing Business, increase passport features, high morale of staff and esprit-de-corps, on the spot assessment of various operations across the country; increased security, along the various border posts; the seamless Public-Private Partnership (PPP) with contractors on best practices; blocking of leakages in the system and robust inter-agency collaboration with sister agencies for improved security, thereby creating solutions to a viable and virile institution that is self-sufficient, sustainable and accountable; the story cannot be said to be the same at the Nigerian Immigration Service (NIS).
This is judging from the fact that the present management of the NIS has done so much in its little stay in office by consolidating on premium achievements for the overall betterment of the NIS, transforming and repositioning of the NIS to meet with the best global standards and, as well, maintaining high standards of accountability, good governance structure and transparency in all its operations nationwide.
In a press release issued in Lagos by the Country Representative/President of Guild of Civil Societies and Media Executives for Equity, Justice and Transparency in Nigeria (GOCMEJ), Omoba Kenneth Aigbegbele and Secretary, Comrade James Okoronkwo respectively, the organization said that Idris Isah Jere management has improved service performance measurement and enhanced advocacy and awareness campaign on passport management, including carrying out strategic direction for the NIS.
Judging from his blueprint and three cardinal points focus on passport reforms, border management and welfare of staff, the present management of NIS has increased the morale of personnel, putting their best at all times for the growth of the Nigeria Immigration Service.
The Acting Comptroller-General of the NIS has promised that the organization is working assiduously to end the challenges being faced by Nigerians in reviewing their international passports or securing new ones as it will be a thing of the past come March 2022. The delay, according to the NIS CG, was as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic global scourge, the accompanying lockdowns, as well as the difficulty in accessing foreign exchange in the production of the passports.
The Guild is using this medium to call on the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to see how accessing the foreign exchange by the NIS can become a priority as well as how waivers can be issued so as to reduce the challenges of procuring Nigerian passports. GOCMEJ also observed that it is noteworthy to say that part of the challenges also has to do with the launch of the enhanced e-passport, which has been embedded with improved and up-to-date security features.
It will be recalled that it was launched in the United Kingdom (UK) through the support of the present administration of President Muhammadu Buhari, and NIS has also inaugurated such centres in Kano, Port-Harcourt and Ibadan in Oyo State respectively, to ease the problem envisaged by Nigerians.Nevetheless, in the month of December 2021, the NIS has received and shared more than 100,000 passport booklets to clear the backlogs both home and in Diaspora and distribute same across the passport centres nationwide and in the Diaspora.
Accordingly, the Acting CG of NIS stated that the enhanced e-passport is a great improvement on the biometric passport technology which was adopted in the country in 2007. That this is a strategic step towards curbing forgery, impersonation and other forms of fraud associated with obtaining travel documents under the old Machine-Readable passport regime. The Guild notes with satisfaction that the Service is working assiduously over time to ensure full compliance to the three-week duration for renewal and six-week waiting period for fresh applications, as there is nowhere in the world that passports are produced within 24 hours, except in emergency situations.
The Guild also emphasizes that on border management, the Isah Jere management is leaving no stone unturned towards ensuring that Nigerians can sleep with their two eyes closed, as improved border management is a cardinal focus and one of the three-points cardinal agenda of the present management since his assumption of office in September 2021. The present management has deployed the already MIDAS technology and personnel to various border posts across the country to check foreigners entering the country and ensure that criminal elements are arrested by security agents.
With these efforts in place, the Guild solicits for more funding of the NIS, so as to be able to carry out most aspects of its mandate. GOCMEJ also makes a clarion call that the NIS should be allowed to spend part of its internally generated revenue (IGR) to service the organization and Nigerians in general as the paucity of funds is another major factor militating against actualizing its mandate.
The Guild endorses and encourages the partnership and collaboration with sister agencies, the private sector and citizenry which has paid off as Nigerians have been sensitized that issuance of passport booklets will indeed end by March this year, which is a win-win situation for all stakeholders, due to citizens’ engagement, the dynamism of the present leadership and sound management practice in carrying stakeholders along. This has, indeed, endeared Nigerians to the NIS, due to the transparent ethical mechanism put in place.
GOCMEJ therefore passes a vote of confidence on the hierarchy of the NIS under Idris Isah Jere, for his forthrightness, vision and strategic direction based on its three-point agenda and blueprint in seeing to it that the NIS remains a strategic partner globally in migration management and, hereby enjoins all relevant stakeholders, international organizations, the private sector and Nigerian citizens to support and partner with the institutional development, transformational philosophy and revolution presently taking place at the Nigeria Immigration Service.
The Guild also encourages all stakeholders to key-in in order to enable NIS sustain the tempo, for the overall development and growth of the nation.
