Mr Rilwan Musa, the acting Comptroller-General of the Nigeria Immigration Service (NIS), says the organisation is working with communities in border areas to check illegal entry into the country.
Musa, who made this known in Abuja in an interview, said that upon assumption of duty as acting comptroller-general, he visited most border towns to ascertain the challenges faced by officers and men of the service in such areas.
“We decided to solicit support for the activities of the immigration service from governors whose states share border with other countries.
“I also visited district heads of border communities to assist the service to identify foreigners living among them,’’ he said.
Musa said the service also solicited the collaboration of district heads in ensuring the safety of its personnel living in their domain.
He said the service had, through the collaboration of the district heads, registered ECOWAS citizens willing to live in Nigeria.
“The essence of the registration of all ECOWAS citizens living in the country is to know their intentions for wanting to reside in Nigeria.
“The registration also helped to check new entrants, who may come into the country through some unmanned border areas for the purpose of causing problems,’’ Musa said.
According to Musa, the collaboration with the district heads, further boosted intelligence gathering on the activities of such foreigners and their Nigerian collaborators.
Musa said that although the NIS was saddled with the duty of identifying and registering people who come into the country, it was also the civic responsibility of Nigerians to report illegal migrants to the NIS for prompt action.
He urged members of the public to inform and provide the service with information on the presence and activities of non-Nigerians in their neighbourhood.
The comptroller-general said the service purchased and distributed more than 50 motorcycles to its personnel to boost security patrol.
He said the service also provided tents to boost the morale of officers and personnel working under harsh weather conditions in some of the borders.
