The federal government yesterday said it has adopted automated verification of travel documents to forestall smuggling of migrants and improve surveillance systems in the nation’s borders.
The government added that its commitment to tackle smuggling of migrants and trafficking of persons has significantly improved following proactive measures and mechanism put in place by the present administration to ensure internal security.
The Minister of Interior, Dr Olubunmi Tunji-Ojo, disclosed this in his office in Abuja at the private screening of Smuggling of Migrants (SOM) Observatory infomercial documentary, “Know Before You Go: The Dark Web of Migrant Smuggling in Nigeria.”
According to the Director of Press in the Ministry, Mr Ozoya Imohimi, the documentary is a joint initiative of the Nigeria Immigration Service and United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) and supported by the Government of Canada.
He qouted the Minister as saying that the present administration is “a government built on a premise and principle of renewed hope, we understand the effectiveness and efficient migration process.
“As a country we know our responsibility and we understand that leadership is being true to the oath of office and the oath of office is very clear; the well-being and security of Nigerians shall be our sole responsibility and priority”, Tunji-Ojo said.
He said Nigeria is not interested as a country in exporting her liabilities to other countries of the world, but “want to straighten things up, we want to defend our borders and we want to share assets with the rest of the world, while we keep our liabilities here and that is the message and it is a message we are not going back on, and because of that the last one year we have seen a lot of changes.”
He explained that Nigeria’s borders have better surveillance now and there are improvements in integrity of the country’s travel documents, verification and authentication mechanism have been automated and brought to the front burner in terms of travel documents.
Tunji-Ojo said the government is working at the moment on the surveillance of irregular entry points across the country.
The Comptroller-General of Nigeria Immigration Service, Kemi Nanna Nandap commended UNODC for its partnership and the Government of Canada for its support .
Earlier, the Country Representative, UNODC, Mr. Cheikh Toure had given assurance of the commitment of UNODC to deepen its collaboration with the Nigeria Immigration Service, and “ensuring the continued success and sustainability of the SOM Observatory research”.
The Chargé d’Affaires of the Canada High Commission, Mr. Michael Murphy said Canada has a whole-of- government strategy and cooperates closely with international partners to prevent and disrupt migrants smuggling operations by land, sea or air destined for Canada.
He said the Canadian government appreciates partnership with Nigeria and congratulated the NIS for their stewardship and commitment for upholding effective border security.
The documentary is to raise awareness about the dangers of trafficking in persons and smuggling of migrants, promote safety of regular migration particularly targeting Nigerian youths and enhance collaboration with civil society groups to prevent and combat trafficking in person and smuggling of migrants.
