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From Obinna Odogwu, Awka
The Assistant Comptroller General of Immigration, Dominic Asogwa, has revealed that many officers of the Nigeria Immigration Service (NIS) have been killed by terrorists operating in the country.
Although he did not state the number of the victims, Asogwa said the security challenges ravaging the country has not spared the service in any way. He, however, said the Federal Government was working hard to contain it.
ACG Asogwa, who’s in charge of Zone G comprising Edo, Delta, Bayelsa, Anambra and Enugu States, was in Anambra recently to decorate the 43 newly promoted officers of the command after which he had a brief time with the press.
In this interview, Asogwa spoke on a number of issues of national interests including the new security features embedded in the country’s international passport and the efforts the NIS leadership is making to ensure that the acquisition of new passports by Nigerians is made much easier and faster.
You have carried out a brief inspection of this place. What were your findings, especially in relation to the reports you might have got about the activities of your officers in this command?
You don’t expect me to say any other thing apart from the fact that I was highly impressed after going round. From the quarter guard that I took the salute to the parade ground where I addressed the officers, it was awesome despite the challenges. I never expected that the comptroller is handling issues like this, but somebody of her type I know will do better or will do more than this. So, I was impressed to see the officers doing what they know how to do best when I visited here. The only thing I have to say is that I know that the Comptroller is interfacing with the government of Anambra State so that they tar the road here. Anambra deserves better when it comes to migration management. You have a lot of Ndi Anambra out of the country. So, they deserve to have better infrastructure, especially the road leading to this place. Be that as it may, we are a federal institution but we are servicing Anambra State people. So, the government should come to our aid so that this road will be motorable.
The country is currently grappling with the challenges of insecurity. Has it directly affected your officers in anyway; those under your command? If so, in what way?
Generally, we are all battling with the insecurity and I don’t think that there is anybody in Nigeria that will say that this insecurity has not affected him or her including institutions like the immigration. You may have known that so many of our officers have been killed by the bandits. But then, that’s part of life and we are trained and empowered to contribute within our capacity in checkmating the insecurity. And you people are also doing your best by giving information because information is key to everything. So, if we have information that we have bad elements that place, then the security agents will go. And we collaborate with one another to make sure that security is ensured and the government is determined by equipping the officers and by also encouraging them to do their best in checkmating the insecurity. It is affecting everybody as a matter of fact. So, whether it has affected the institution, yes of course, it has. And again, it is affecting us with global economic downturn because if you take into cognisance the challenges as a result of the global economic recession, you will know actually that the Nigeria Immigration Service is not getting the best in terms of managing migration. If you may not know, let me take you to the next question which you may ask, we are saddled with the responsibility of managing the borders. And the Nigeria Immigration Service is doing its best within the limited resources at its disposal; synergising with other security agencies to keep our borders safe. The only thing is that I know that the top management at Abuja is doing everything humanly possible to liaise with the government and to get the government fund immigration better so that we can do more because I know that the general public is expecting more from us.
There have been complaints from the public about the challenges they faced while trying to obtain their passports from the different offices of the NIS across the country. What is the NIS management doing to improve that situation such that Nigerians can get their passports with ease?
I know you were there when I said that under Section 2b of the Immigration Act, it is our mandate to issue passports to Nigerians and we are actually doing that. There is nowhere that you don’t have challenges. The challenges are adequately being addressed. And that is why we came up with the enhanced passport that will give you time to come and give you time to come and get captured and time to come and pick your passport. Assuming we adhere to that, gradually, those challenges will be sorted out. But people will come, ‘I want passport today, I want passport tomorrow’. That request entirely disrupts our programmes, the programmed system that works with appointments. But so many people will come, they want waiver, they want this. I am appealing to the general public; you the members of the fourth estate of the realm, you people should also help us to disseminate the information, let us have patience, okay? If you do comparative analysis of other countries with us, you will discover that it’s the same thing. The issue is that we are used to that. Be that as it may, there may be challenges in terms of the issuance but it is not peculiar to Nigeria. What you might think is peculiar to us is lack of patience. But with patience, we are determined to continue to issue passports timely to Nigerians in accordance with our Immigration Act.
What is really special about the new passport; what necessitated the move to e-passport? Is it that the previous one had deficiencies or what? Nigerians would like to know.
What necessitated the move is to secure the passport. Our passport is one of the best in the whole world. Of course, it has to be in accordance with the ICAO standard. And that is why we keep on improving. The global world is changing and we change with passport because that is the only document you present when you are going outside the country. And you know Nigerians travel a lot. So, to strengthen our interface, our relationship with other countries, our passport has to be improved all the time. That is why it is enhanced with over 25 security features so that you don’t say that Nigeria’s passport is like this or it’s like that. We want to make sure that we are always on top of the game. We use first class technology when it comes to the issuance of passports.
You have charged the newly promoted officers to be diligent in their duties and to do so in line with the rules guiding their operations. To give instructions is one thing; to have the same instruction carried out is another. How do you monitor your staff to ensure that they act within the laws, rules and regulations of this establishment?
Great that you asked this but I am also happy that you know that we stress on it; that to whom much is given, much is expected. The Comptroller General of Immigration worked tirelessly to get officers this promotion. And as you asked whether we monitor the activities of our officers; of course, I am here. I came all the way from Edo State, Benin City today for this exercise. It is part of monitoring. We monitor the activities of our officers on a daily basis. The comptrollers, I have five comptrollers under me, they are working tirelessly. They are on their toes to make sure that things are done in accordance with our rules and regulations. We also have SERVICOM in all the state commands and the zonal office. We have an investigation unit, I and C – Investigation and Compliance. We have different units to make sure that officers are working in accordance with the laid down rules and regulations. And we are also, at any given time, we keep on appealing, begging the general public to help us with information. If you see any officer doing what he is not supposed to do, share with us. We are not going to kill the officer but we will try to educate him more, to sensitise him more. But if you allow the officer to keep on doing what you think that they are not doing good, as you are now saying monitoring, then we won’t get there. So, you people should also improve in the monitoring activities of our officers so that they give the public the best they can.
