Immigration CG: E-border surveillance to be extended to waterways

Idris Jere, the acting comptroller-general of the Nigeria Immigration Service (NIS), says the e-border surveillance will be extended to waterways.

He said this over the weekend during a working visit to the service’s blue border formations in Oron and Ibaka areas of Akwa Ibom state. 

The development comes days after the NIS said 84 border locations in Nigeria will soon be linked with e-border monitoring cameras to check issues of illegal immigrants and other criminal activities. 

Jere said the ICT solutions are needed as a means to improve the current security architecture across the waterways which could serve as a route for illegal immigration.

He also said the rising volume of migratory activities along the nation’s international waterways measuring over 853 kilometres requires that closer attention is devoted to the sector for improved surveillance. 

“The waterways of Oron and Ibaka areas, for instance, are accessible to countries such as Mali, Benin, Togo, Ghana, Cameroon, among others, and so concerted efforts should be made to equip all the agencies along that corridor for good security cover, he stated,” he said. 

During the visit, Jere paid courtesy visits to the residences of traditional rulers in the border communities where he solicited their cooperation, especially in information sharing to ensure effective border security. 

“We have come to realise that no security/military agency can achieve enduring peace and order anywhere in the country without the partnership of the traditional rulers and members of the local communities,” Jere said at the palace of Odiong Akan, the paramount ruler of the Oron nation. 

He also said the traditional rulers played “great roles” in the nation’s security arrangement during the pre- and post-colonial eras, and called for a re-visit of the roles of traditional rulers in promoting security.

He promised that the control posts of Oron and Ibaka would be included in the e-border project of the service soon.

“When this is achieved, the two locations would be connected to the command and control centre at the service headquarters real-time and online for effective surveillance and monitoring of all movements and activities in the areas,” he added.