Politics
The Nigeria Immigration Service as an Institution of government established by the act of parliament in 1963 is evolving into a world-class immigration service.
It will be 57 years in August 2020. Within this period, the NIS has had 15 leadership styles and administration, and now it has the 16th comptroller general in the person of Muhammad Babandede
Since he assumed office, Babandede has transformed the NIS from an era of handwritten passport to the machine-readable passport and now polycarbonate enhanced e-passport; from rubber stamp visas to electronic Biometric Visa; from cash payment to online payments, and online applications for VISAS, Passport etc.
For the first time in 57 chequered years, immigration agencies in the Sub-Region and international bodies are visiting the NIS Headquarters to study how the leadership has turned around the system.
The service has received in audience ECOWAS heads of immigration in a strategic meeting in Abuja, Nigeria. Gambian Immigration Department came on a study tour, much International police and border security agencies have visited deliberately on international collaboration on how to align with international best practices in giving Nigerians a dignified trip to those countries and staying to work or do legitimate businesses with dignity.
The NIS has championed the safe return programme for Nigerians with a lot of countries and development partners, which has further boosted Nigerian image abroad.
The Passport to Safe Migration campaign began with a script conceptualized by the Comptroller General of Nigeria Immigration Service many years before becoming the Comptroller General and it became a document that gained the support of international development partners including International Organization for Migration, IOM, and the national campaign engaged in the 36 states and FCT with the document”passport to Safe Migration ” further exposed the dangers of Human Trafficking and Smuggling of Migrants as written in the document copies each was shared at all our passport control centres to applicants during the sensitization çampaign which yielded positive results in the discouragement and frustration of the activities of human traffickers ànd Smuggling of Migrants, with relative drop recorded and several attempted travels and syndicates arrested at the Airports and Land border control posts.
The evolution from handwritten passports to, Machine Readable passport, and e-passport to the present Bicarbonate, an enhanced passport is à thing of celebration if one understands how passport ratings and standard dictates the treatment meted on citizens when traveling across international boundaries, one will give kudos to the NIS for the passport Reforms that had attracted CNN documentary and Commendation for Nigeria and Nigerians as the most widely traveled, the best, gifted and highly skilled in the world in almost every field of endeavour but had to travel with the green passport first before they will have the privilege of another as dual citizens as the case may be.
The Nigerian green passport has been a tool for the molding of the destiny of many Nigerians abroad, we must celebrate Nigeria and the green passport with which they travel out before securing a place out there, the various generation of the passport was part of the history of our transformation both as a nation and organization.
The NIS has been transformed into a modern service with digital pull over in its operations and with the Technology Building, many advance services will be unfolded to serve the citizens better and foreign entities alike.
The NIS transformation within four years is mind-blowing and this will be showcased in its virtual exhibition of NIS at 57 on its website come August 2020 for the world to see.
– Jul. 7, 2020 @ 19:35 GMT |
Tags: NIS evolves into world class immigration service
