NIGERIA AND OTHER WEST AFRICAN COUNTRIES ON THURSDAY MET TO BRAINSTORM ON TACKLING MIGRATION CHALLENGES
NIGERIA AND OTHER WEST AFRICAN
COUNTRIES ON THURSDAY MET TO BRAINSTORM ON TACKLING MIGRATION CHALLENGES
Mr. Babandede made the announcement on Thursday during a joint meeting of the Nigeria Immigration Service, NIS, and ECOWAS Heads of Immigration held in Abuja.
The meeting was convened to review and make recommendations on the protocol of free movement of persons, migration and irregular migration management as well as regional data sharing.
“As you are aware, there is already free movement but it’s also coupled with the security challenges.
“We should be able to save a lot of lives at the end of this month. Migrants will travel across the desert because we have a common border; there is Nigerian border, there is Togolese border, there is Ghanaian border but there is the sub-regional border which people move freely without visas and they can easily be in our territories so we should protect our own citizens within those borders.
“If you take Nigeria for instance, our regional border is in Niger, towards the North; so, if we want to protect our people from problems through the desert, we need to work closely with Niger. That’s the purpose of this meeting and I’m sure peace will be brought out of this meeting,” Mr. Babandede said.
The comptroller-general also emphasized on how the Service intends to use technology in tackling the issues surrounding porous borders across the sub-regional countries.
“We can exchange information, we can do joint patrol and investigation. That way, we can send the right signal to criminals that we are united.
“In terms of technology, one of the major decisions taken is the use of biometrics in order to strengthen cooperation among sub-regional countries,” he added.
Mr. Babandede said the service has graduated at least 400 officers that went through border training.
The officials that participated in the training were heads of patrol officers and drivers, he said.
“We have also trained rapid response team to help in times of crisis,” he added.
The Minister of Interior, Abdulrahman Dambazzau, in his remarks said arms smuggling is a major challenge across Nigeria’s borders. He said that there is need to use collaborative efforts within the sub-region to tackle the porous border.
“Because our borders are porous, one of the things we are looking at is the effective use of technology because of the extensiveness of the porousness of the border and also the similarities among border communities.
“We are looking at ways we will use the means of modern technology to check this menace. We cannot do this alone without collaborative efforts with in the sub-region and also international organisations so that we can now bring out our ideas together and synergize to see the best way we can handle this,” he said.
The minister also said arms proliferation is a major issue and challenge in every country across the globe.
“We want to clean up arms that are already coming in and to prevent further movement of illegal arms,” Mr. Dambazzau said.
In another development:
The International Organisation for Migration, IOM, on Sunday in Abuja said that it is installing e-border facilities in 10 Nigerian border posts as a way of ensuring better management of Nigeria’s porous borders.
The IOM Nigeria, Chief of Mission, Enira Krdzalic, disclosed this at the end of a technical workshop on migration for journalist in Nigeria.
She explained that the hi-tech border facility termed Migration Data Analysis System (MIDAS) allows for better collection, processing, storage and dissemination of travelers’ information when entering and exiting border points.
She said that the project is being carried out in six strategic border posts and four Immigration State commands in the country.
She said that the border posts include Seme, Jibya, Illela, Mfum, Idiroko and Kamba while the immigration commands include that of Ogun, Birnin-Kebbi, Seme and Calabar.
She said that the IOM had also trained personnel of the Nigeria Immigration Service (NIS) on the use and installation of MIDAS at the different border posts to ensure efficient service delivery.
“Given the global security, economic, political and environmental challenges, it is imperative to apply technological innovation to tackle the important task of efficient border management.
“MIDAS has been developed to support states to collect, process and record migrants’ information for the purpose of identification, data collection and analysis. It can collect biographic and biometric data which is useful for monitoring migration patterns,” she said.
Earlier, Krdzalic said that the workshop was organized by the IOM for journalists in Nigeria as part of its sensitization and awareness campaign on migration issues in the country.
She called on the media to report on the plight of migrants, IDPs in Nigeria and the need for them to get humane treatment in line with international protocols on migration.
The News Agency of Nigeria reports that the workshop with the theme: “The Media Coverage on Migration: For a Human and Positive Approach” was attended by journalists in Abuja.
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