By Chioma Obinagwam
Delta state governor, Senator Ifeanyi Okowa has thrown his weight behind the documentation of immigrants, saying such will ensure proper planning and assist in the security of lives and property.
Governor Okowa, who was represented by Commissioner of Power and Energy, Hon. Basil Ganagana disclosed this at the official flag-off of Migrants e- Registration program and the commissioning of 500KVA Transformer at the state command.
The governor observed that it was important for appropriate reforms to be taken for the benefits of Nigerians and the country.
He pointed the importance of appropriate documentation in security and can planning.
“So, without the right account of our people, our resources will become depleted and planning will be affected drastically,
“We must congratulate the step taken by the Nigerian Immigration Service on the immigrant reform; I think it is important for us as a nation because you find out that people from other countries just come into our country and settle in any part of the nation.
“They are not documented in any manner and that is not good for a nation because if they commit crimes, they cannot be traced and it is important that even without people committing crime, we should have documentations of foreigners in our country.”
Flagging off the program at the ceremony, Governor Okowa commended the Nigerian Immigration Service (NIS) for initiating the landmark reforms.
“I am very excited to be briefed on some of these projects that you have embarked on especially on the issue concerning e-passport which will be tied down to national identity.
“It is something that is very innovative, something that I believe can really help us in national security, because, people bearing all manner of names and people with more than one passport will surely become a thing of the past; so, we want to thank you for thinking about this thoroughly and bringing up this reform.”
He comended the NIS for working with other stakeholders as well as the general public to ensure that all foreigners in their respective households are compelled to participate in the registration exercise and noted that was the first of its kind in West Africa.
Corroborating, the Comptroller, Delta State Command of NIS, Ibrahim Liman also commended Governor Okowa for his administration’s numerous support for NIS Delta State.
He urged Nigerians, particularly, Deltans that accommodate migrants to educate them on the need for them to get registered.
He disclosed that the approval to commence the registration of migrants, was given last year by President Muhammadu Buhari.
He said, “ We felt it is not enough to start inviting migrants to register until we prepare our staff, get equipments flag-off the program and sensitize the public before commencement.”
According to him, “this excercise is free. No money will be paid by any migrant to be registered. It is free. No migrant will be asked to pay. What we have commissioned today is very strategic for the Nigeria Immigration Service (NIS), development.
“It is intended for anybody who is not a Citizen of Nigeria and who has entered our territory stayed for a period exceeding 90 days. It is mandatory for that person and also mandatory for the person who provides accommodation for that person anywhere that person sleeps to ensure that the migrant is registered. We have a training curriculum for this to guide officers. There is sanction according to the law for defaulters.
“And we have set up the equipment used for migrants e-registration, officers have been trained for training centers. The software have been concluded. The excercise is already taken place in every state of the federation. The donors are supporting all the states including the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).”
He added, the International Organization for immigration have aligned with various financial and developmental partners in order to support the strengthening of NIS capacity to meet the needs of the safe and orderly migrants processing, to facilitate access to travel documents, improve ability to detect fraudulent documentation and boost its capacity to combat irregular migration
Before now, President Muhammadu Buhari had on Friday, July 12 urged migrants staying in the country or those that have stayed within six months to submit themselves for e-registration at the NIS Headquarters, Abuja.
