The Nigerian Immigration Service has indefinitely suspended one of its personnel for begging for financial gratifications from a tourist.
Okpravero C. Ufuoma, an Assistance Superintendent of Immigration II, was recorded secretly by the tourist at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Lagos, while he asked him for money or ”anything.”
Upon his arrival in Nigeria, the officer asked the tourist, ”Sir, what do you have for me?” to which the tourist replied, ”What, money? I have no cash, I swear.”
In his response, the officer asked him for ”anything,” saying ”if it comes from you, I’ll be happy with anything.”
”Some money, I’ll appreciate it,” he added while urging the tourist to electronically transfer the money to his bank account.
In a swift response to the viral video, the Immigration Service relieved Ufuoma of his duties indefinitely.
This was announced in a statement on Wednesday signed by Kemi Nanna Nandap, the Controller General, Nigeria Immigration Service.
The statement partly reads, “We wish to inform the public that the conduct of the officer, identified as Okpravero C. Ufuoma, an Assistant Superintendent of Immigration II (ASI 2) at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Lagos, does not reflect the values and ethics of professionalism upheld by the NIS.”
The Service condemned the “misconduct in the strongest terms,” noting that “as a result, the officer in question has been indefinitely suspended pending the outcome of disciplinary procedures, which are in accordance with the law and Public Service Rules.”
