By Daniel Tyokua
The Nigeria Immigration Service (NIS) FCT Command, said it has began discussion with a developer on the need to build 150 housing units in Bwari Area Council for the personnel.
Controller Immigration Service in charge of the Federal Capital Territory, Anthony Akuneme disclosed this during an interaction with some journalists in Abuja.
He noted that the housing units was targeted at Junior officers who would get the property at the rate of 10 percent deposit through their contributions in the National Housing Fund and Federal Mortgage Bank as well as pension allowance.
The Controller explained that the arrangement allows an officer to pay 10 percent while the remaining 90 percent would be paid in 20 or 25 years before retirement.
He used the opportunity to educate officers who are not aware that the pension deduction that is done in their salaries, 25 percent of it could be channelled Into housing scheme.
“Now we have arranged with the developer to use the 25 percent of everybody’ s pension savings towards the housing scheme as well as the 2.5 percent that officers pay for housing but cannot access the money when they want to build.
“We are now accessing it for them as a Command through the developer. And in the end, if the apartment giving to you worth 10m, you have already pay 5m from the contributions you have been making which you cannot accessed.
“Therefore, we are taking the Command to the next level in the area of welfare replicating what the Controller General, Mrs.Adepoju is doing at the services headquarters level”, he said.
On the issue of tackling illegal migrants coming Into the FCT, he noted that the Command under him had put up measures to chack mate visitors coming with wrong paper or another person’s paper.
Akuneme urged companies engaging the services of foreigners to register such workers, whether they were from West Africa, Europe or America, adding that patrol officers were going in all the nooks and crannies of the FCT to fish out illegal immigrants.
The FCT Controller revealed that head of security agencies in the territory have formed a formidable team aimed at tackling insecurity.
He added that the team is saddled with the responsibilities of sharing information and scheduling monthly meeting to proffer solutions on the menace of insecurity in the FCT
