The Assistant Comptroller General (ACG) in-charge of Zone ‘A’ Ikeja Lagos, Nigerian Immigration Service ( NIS), Adewale Sadiq, has assured that the NIS will ensure that the borders in country are persistently monitored to avoid irregular migration.
Sadiq spoke during the grand finale of the celebration of the 60 years anniversary of the NIS in Lagos on Saturday.
He said the service deployed Migrant Information and Data Analysis System (MIDAS), a Border Management Information System (BMIS), to collect, process, store and analyse travellers information across the borders.
Sadiq explained that the system complied with international standards and it is currently operational in 19 countries.
”The major reason for using MIDAS was to facilitate border control in Nigeria and the ability to scan documents is the most common technological skills possessed by the NIS for the adoption of MIDAS,” he said.
The News Agency of Nigeria ( NAN) reports that the theme of the 60 years celebration of the service was: “Enhancing seamless regular migration”.
He said the tight border security had helped to tackle the ‘Japa syndrome’ which had become a big challenge to those passing illegal ports of exit in the quest for greener pasture.
He lamented that many of the youths died in the Sahara Desert, the Mediterranean Sea, among others, of which was not worth the venture.
He said that according to the International Organisation for Migration ( IOM), many Nigerians died while trying to migrate through the Sahara Desert and the Mediterranean Sea in 2023 and more still counting.
He said the service would not take its watch off the border to ensure citizens were not lured to death by the traffickers who usually traded in organ harvesting.