Acting Comptroller-General of Nigeria Immigration Services (NIS), Mrs Caroline Wuraola Adepoju has unfolded plans by the border security and migration management body to acquire aircraft, helicopters and drones for surveillance and aerial monitoring.
Mrs Adepoju said such mobile critical infrastructure would go a long way for the NIS to discharge its core mandate of monitoring and the movement of persons across the country’s land, sea and land borders.
She broke the news yesterday in Lagos at a retreat organised by NIS Murtala Muhammed International Airport (MMIA), Command Lagos entitled: “One Impression: inter-agency collaboration.”
She said the acquisition of the equipment is already captured in the 2024 budget of the Ministry of Interior.
Besides the procurement of operational equipment, she said the NIS continues to invest in technology to drive the production of travel documents and other initiatives that would boost the security at the country’ s borders.
She said from next year, the NIS will be deploying electronic gates at the airports to ease the facilitation of passengers coming into and out of the country.
Mrs Adepoju said this underscores the agenda of the Minister of Interior Dr. Olubunmi Tunji Ojo’s support for border security with commitment to drive the restoration of the agency’s aerial capabilities.
She said: “We are doing everything we can to ensure that NIS gets its aircraft back, we used to have aircraft for border surveillance, we are now putting this into our budget.
“We are going to buy aircraft, we will buy drones, we are going to buy helicopters to ensure that we effectively do aerial border management.”
The e-gate implementation, scheduled for early 2024, she said aims to streamline entry for Nigerians through biometric identity verification, minimising the need for direct interaction with immigration officers.
She explained: “Very soon, NIS will be deploying the e-gate to make it seamless for our nationals to come in, make it less stressful. In the early part of 2024 we will deploy the e-gate ensuring that our MIDAS will improve on them, ensuring our borders, air, land and sea are fortified.
“The electronic gate, for example our nationals may not need, except they are persons of interest, to be attended to by immigration officers. “
The new Senior Special Assistant to the President on National Values and Social Justice, Mr Fela Durotoye urged agencies working at the airport to collaborate, share intelligence information to create new perceptions about the country in its drive for economic transformation.
Comptroller of NIS, MMIA Command, Mrs Adeola Adesokan said synergy among security and border management agencies at the airport had attracted more investors into the country .
Also, the Managing Director, Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN), Mr Kabir Yusuf, said the air travel value chain continues to harvest the benefits of collaboration among agencies at the Lagos Airport.
Yusuf, who was represented by the Regional Manager, Southwest/Airport Manager, Mr Sunday Ayodele, craved for support in infrastructure to change the face of facilitation at the airport
