Banditry: Nigeria Immigration Service Begins Registration Of Foreigners In Ogun
As part of measures to overcome banditry as well as other security challenges in the country, the Nigeria Immigration Service (NIS) will next week, commence registration of foreigners resident and doing businesses in Ogun state.
The NIS Comptroller for Ogun state Command, Comptroller Doris Braimah made this known while addressing with leaders and representatives of the various associations of ECOWAS citizens resident in the state at a sensitisation cum awareness meeting held on Thursday in Abeokuta, the state capital.
Speaking at the awareness meeting, the Comptroller explained that the registration and bio-data capturing of the ECOWAS citizens becomes necessary in order to guarantee their free and unhindered movement across the country in the course of their doing businesses in Nigeria.
She emphasised that the exercise is in compliance with the President Muhammadu Buhari’s directive which ordered the NIS Comptroller General, Muhammad Babandede to immediately embark on electronic bio-data capturing of all non-Nigerians residing in the country within a window period of six months from now.
Explaining the rationale behind the registration exercise, Braimah allayed the fear of arrest of any the non- Nigerians who come out to register along with every members of their families within the six months window period “without any penalty”.
According to her, any ECOWAS citizen visiting Nigeria and intends to stay beyond 90 days would have to make himself or herself available for the registration to avoid penalty.
Speaking further at the meeting which also had in attendance, leaders of the Togolese Association and Union if Beninoise among others, Braimah explained that any non-Nigeria that fails to register under the six months period which the exercise will last may have himself to blame.
“The registration is free. President Muhammadu Buhari has decided and granted amnesty of six months to all who entered the country without accurate documentation. The registration exercise will hold at our headquarters here in Oke-Mosan, Abeokuta and for now, we are not going to arrest anybody”.
While enjoining the foreigners to take advantage of the window period to register themselves and members if their families, the Ogun NIS boss however, disclosed that the database generated through the exercise would be share with other security agencies for easy tracking of anyone of them who may likely take to crime in the country.
