By Christopher Oji
The Nigeria Immigration Service (NIS), Bayelsa State Command, has up the game against what it called “irregular immigrants.” Its Comptroller, Mr James Sunday, is not leaving any stone unturned to keep irregular immigrants off the state.
He was recently with the Brigade Commander, 16th Brigade, Yenagoa, Brigadier-General S. Y. Yakassai, to seek ways to bridge the gap in intelligence gathering and sharing and to secure joint operations alongside the Nigerian Army. Yakassai lauded the initiative and commended the NIS comptroller on going “Operation Flush-Out of Irregular Migrants in Bayelsa State.”
The Brigade Commander said: “This has reshaped the security architecture with respect to removing elements that would have constituted security menace and concern due to their involvement in unregistered businesses. As undocumented migrants, their record of stay in Bayelsa would go unnoticed should there be any crime involving any of such elements and they would disappear without trace.”
Sunday responded: “The exercise has taken care of such fears. Everyone apprehended is interviewed, documented. Those with genuine cases are treated on merit, while those with high degree default are pencilled for easing out through approved entry points closest to where they came into the country.
“Where they entered through an approved entry point, they would pass through the same route after documentation at the point of exit. This exercise is routine. The command will keep up the tempo of checking out for irregular migrants on a continuous basis until the state is rid of the menace.
“Every non-Nigerian must play by the rules governing their legal stay as regular migrants to perform their legitimate businesses and reside as registered migrants on the e-migrant platform of the NIS, Bayelsa State.”
Command’s Public Relations Officer (PRO), Mr Ibeinmo-Cookey Ebitimitula, said: “Mr Sunday saw to the launch of the command’s News Bulletin. It forms the archival base for relevant information on NIS activities in Bayelsa. It re-defines the roles played by service in the security architecture of the state and the nation in general. The bulletin captures the essence for inter-agency collaboration in fighting crime and criminality by all the security services in Bayelsa State.”
The comptroller saw the NIS News Bulletin as “a tool for uniting the services and informing the public of developments at the Immigrations Command as well as a stewardship report for the NIS leadership.”
Sunday extended cooperation to other sister agencies and the people of the state. He equally met with stakeholders, hoteliers and members of the National Union of Road Transport Workers (NURTW) to sensitise them on Immigration Regulations 2017. During the International Women’s Day, he urged female officers to cement good working relations with their male counterparts
To motivate NIS women officers, he promised to open a crèche for nursing personnel: “This will allow nursing female officers/mothers to cater for their babies and guarantee no loss in working hours.
“It will also reduce the stress experienced by mothers of such children, between the ages of one and three years, who may need such intervention at close range, while performing their duties optimally.
“Since my assumption of office, I discovered that many of our female staff were nursing mothers, while a few were at various stages of pregnancy. It occurred to me to find a solution to their constantly taking permission to leave the office to get children from nursery/crèche schools, without coming back even when they had serious assignments to accomplish.
“The desire to reduce the burdens of running helter-skelter prompted the move. With the support of the mayor of Yenagoa City Local Government Council, Nimizo Orouoaye and council members, some materials were procured for the comfort of the children and the happiness of mothers whose children were within reach and under proper supervision.
“The crèche will soon be upgraded to a primary school with the approval of relevant authorities. NIS staff with education background and passion for children will be drafted to take care of the children. A nurse will be employed to take care of the facility and the crèche.”
Officers of the command are undergoing training. The latest had as its theme; “What Next After Retirement?” The training was tailored towards empowerment using, “farming entrepreneurship in snail farming, cassava, rabbits, and other seafood predominant in Bayelsa as a platform.”
Beneficiaries were encouraged to live within their means as salary earners, but to empower their spouses, whether male or female, depending on who works with the NIS. The resource person, Abigail Bokoyeibo, spoke on work, ethics and cashing in on boosting their salaries with savings and investment to enhance their status while still in active service.
Emphasis was laid on family empowerment through investment in hairdressing and barbing saloons, fashion design and tailoring services, sale of water from boreholes, point of sale (POS) services for their family, especially the unemployed, apart from farming enterprises permitted for employees of government.
At other forums, Sunday informed Nigerians all they need to know about the enhanced electronic passport: “It has unique features and comes in three categories; 32 pages with five years validity, 64 pages with five years validity and 64 pages with 10 years validity.”
