Comptroller-General of the Nigeria Immigration Service (NIS), Muhammad Babandede, has called for effective border management structures to curb cross-border crimes.
Babandede told newsmen in Abuja on Tuesday that irregular movement of people and goods had been the challenge of border security officers.
This, he said, required enhanced migration and border management facilities.
“Almost all countries in the world have introduced some forms of travel restrictions and strict border controls both for health and security concerns.
“The NIS has adopted closed control of borderlines in the face of the ravaging scourge of COVID-19.
“States are being confronted with how to facilitate regular migration of people while maintaining a secure border, ” he said.
According to him, in the year 2020, passenger movement across the air borders is 1,256,652, and across land borders is 109,854 while Seaports recorded 213,161.
He added that stowaways intercepted was 106.
“The analysis and computation was a confirmation that migration remains a global phenomenon that was driven by the push and pull factors amidst coronavirus pandemic that literally redefined global migratory discourses and policy formulations,” he said.
Babandede explained that the Service would continue to play the lead role in `Border Management, Migration Management and Control of Human Mobility’ through the deployment of human capital and technology.
He, however, called for inter-agency collaborations for safer migration through bilateral, multilateral cooperation, partnerships, training and retraining of its workforce to ensure a safe border and safe nation.
