President Muhammadu Buhari has charged the Nigeria Immigration Service (NIS) to be relentless in keeping the border safe by ensuring that criminal elements do not find Nigeria as safe heaven to hide and perpetrate crimes.
The President made the call on Thursday during the commissioning of the Nigeria Immigration Service Data/Communication Command and Control Centre otherwise known as NIS technology building, at the Service Headquarters, in Sauka Abuja.
The President who joined the commissioning event via the Zoom technology stated that NIS Data/Command and Control Centre as a repository of personal data of Nigerians and expatriate is in line with his administration derive to implement policy that will protect and enhance the living standard of Nigerians.
He further urged the Service to “collaborate with international security agencies to safeguard the border because a safe border is prerequisite to a safe nation”.
In his Welcome address, the Comptroller General of Immigration Muhammad Babandede stated that the Nigeria Immigration Service has evolved into a world class Migration Management Agency capable of playing its pivotal role to National Security. He said that the Data Command centre could not have come at a better time than now as it has placed the Service in a vantage position to confront the criminality in the forms of terrorism, migrant smuggling/ human trafficking.
Babandede who acknowledged that the contract for the first and second phase of the building cost over nine billion naira adding that the building is the best the service has had since its establishment in 1958.
He further averred that the building provides a unique platform for security agencies in the country to frontly address national security concerns using the instrumentality of Information Communication Technology.
