Nigeria probes bribery allegation against immigration personnel

Last updated on September 11th, 2021 at 03:07 pm

The Nigeria Immigration Service (NIS) has resolved to investigate the allegations of bribery against its personnel in land borders with Niger, Chad, Benin and Cameroon.Mr. Sunday James, spokesman of the NIS, said on Friday in Abuja that allegations of collection of bribes from illegal migrants to infiltrate the country were gaining ground.
Reports say that NIS officials at check points at various Nigerian highways have indirectly ‘legalised’ illegal migration with their cash-for-pass attitudes.
James said that the Comptroller General of Immigration (CGI), Mr. Muhammad Babandede, had assured that the alleged acts would be investigated.
“Considering the gravity of the accusation, the CGI has ordered that a comprehensive investigation into the allegation be carried out and the recommendations immediately forwarded to his office for immediate action,“ he said.
“It is pertinent to note that the NIS is doing everything possible to rid the system of bad eggs, who are giving the service bad name,” he said.
He said that the service would not relent efforts on border control and migration management.
The NIS, he said, was working to beat the January ending deadline for e-registration of migrants.
“No fewer than 80,000 migrants have been registered in the migrants’ e-registration database since its inception in July, while 45,000 were irregular migrants representing 66 percent of the total number of migrants registered and that 35,000 representing 34 percent of regular migrants.
“The objective of the migrants’ e-registration was to afford the Nigerian government the opportunity to know precisely the total number of migrants’ residents in the country as well as their status,” he said.