President Muhammadu Buhari has directed the Nigeria Immigration Service (NIS) to enhance border surveillance and control ahead of the forthcoming general election.
In a statement on Tuesday in Abuja by Sola Fasure, the media adviser to Minister of Interior, Rauf Aregbesola, the President gave the directive when inaugurating Katsina State NIS Command office and Roll-Out of the enhanced e-Passport in the state.
“President Muhammadu Buhari has ordered that Nigerian borders should be made impenetrable to foreign bodies who might want to come in and manipulate the election process or engage in other nefarious activities.
“The order from President Buhari is that between now and the time that we conclude all the elections, please make our borders impregnable. They should still remain impregnable, even after the elections.
“We don’t want a situation whereby those who are not qualified to vote in Nigeria will come into our nation to illegally participate in the process,” Aregbesola added.
The minister reiterated that the primary assignment of the service was border control and not passport issuance.
The minister, however, said migration management was another primary responsibility of the service, as such, they must ensure migrants were effectively regulated and documented, as passport issuance was complimentary.
He assured that the nation’s borders would soon be covered using latest surveillance technology.
“We are deploying electronic digital technology to ensure 24/7 inch by inch surveillance of the 4,500 kilometres borderline from the eastern part to the western part including coastlines.
“This is one of the several achievements of the President’s administration.”
He added that Katsina has 14 border positions across 400km borderline manned by immigration personnel, and assured that the government was confident of protecting the border positions.
In his remarks, Gov. Aminu Masari, represented by the Secretary to the Government of Katsina State, Alhaji Muntari Lawal, commended the NIS for helping to curb the menace of insecurity in the state.
The governor also commended the Ministry of Interior for successfully establishing a state command of the immigration service in Katsina.
