NIS commences e-migrant registration in Edo command
The Nigerian Immigration Service (NIS), Edo command on Tuesday inaugurated its e-migrant registration exercise.
The State Comptroller of the Service, Mr Kayode Eniolorunda, in his opening remarks said that the exercise was imperative in order to effectively tackle the issues of insecurity in the country.
Eniolorunda also said that the exercise was aimed at getting the documenting the migrants residing in the state and preserved for accessibility and ease of recall and retrieval by all stakeholders within the security circle.
He said that the importance of the exercise could not be over emphasised with the global phenomenon of migration and its increasing challenges especially in irregular migration, Smuggling in Persons (SOM) and Trafficking in Persons (TIP).
He stressed that this was in view of the social, economic and political impacts migration challenges would have on the country if not well controlled.
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The Comptroller further said that the migrant e-registration exercise also formed part of NIS institutional response mechanism to addressing security challenges in the country occasioned by insurgency, banditry and other cross border crimes.
He said that the expected outcome of the exercise would include facilitating legitimate movement of migrants and countering intelligence from migrants with clandestine motives.
He urged migrants in the state to avail themselves of the amnesty window of registration which would elapse in January.
In his remarks, Gov. Godwin Obaseki of Edo said that the exercise was long overdue in the state.
Obaseki, represented by Mrs Victoria Adeleye, Administrator, General and Public Trustee, described the exercise as an all embracing procedure that would ensure the safety of migrants and citizens of the state.
He said that the state government was concerned about the security of residents, adding that the exercise would help ensure that information about migrants was known.
He further said that the exercise was essential to government and tasked the command to ensure strict compliance.
NAN reports that sister security agencies such the Army, Police, Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps and the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency were present at the inauguration. (NAN)
