Kwara State Governor AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq on Wednesday said the ongoing electronic registration of migrants will secure the country from transnational terrorism and other crimes.
He added that the e-registration is an opportunity to properly document people who live within “our borders for effective planning, development and mutually beneficial collaborations.”
AbdulRazaq spoke in Ilorin, the Kwara State capital at the launch of the e-registration of migrants.
He said: “The programme is to ensure proper registration of migrant in the country and targeted at generating a robust personal profile and electronic biometric data base of all foreigners that intend to stay in Nigeria beyond the period of 90 days.
“It is a thing of pride to us that Kwara is among the eight selected states to pilot this noble scheme. I therefore call on all migrants in the state to key into this programme by immediately submitting themselves at the Nigeria Immigration Service office in Ilorin, the state capital and all designated centres for proper documentation and registration. This will help the state to ascertain identities of migrants and what they do. It will also create a strong synergy with migrants who are into legal businesses.
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“The state will offer the necessary support to ensure the success of this exercise. I therefore urge all the officers charged with this responsibility to ensure it is done professionally to the glory of the Immigration Service and our fatherland.”
The NIS Comptroller, Edith Onyemenam said the mission of the service is to continue to innovate and strive to increasingly deploy technology in support of government’s efforts at effectively dealing with security challenges in Nigeria.
She added that failure by any migrant to register within the six months grace would attract the penalties prescribed by the laws.
Mrs. Onyemenam said that “the Federal Government has graciously granted six months amnesty period to migrants within which they can be registered irrespective of their immigration status and failure to comply will amount to violation of Nigerian immigration laws.
“So, it is particularly important for irregular migrants to take advantage of this ‘window of opportunity’ to regularize their migrant status.
“You will agree with me that in a world where technology is playing increasing roles, and the internet has virtually turned the world into ‘communities without borders’ the efforts of the NIS in deploying technology to provide useful and important information on migrants/foreigners, as and when it is necessary, is an important complementary security infrastructure in our current realities.” [THE NATION]
