- Comptroller-General Immigration, Isah Jere Idris
By Anthony Nwachukwu
To ensure a credible and hitch-free 2023 general elections, the Nigeria Immigration Service (NIS) has charged its heads of commands and formations across the country to upscale surveillance activities in all locations, including border crossing points.
The Comptroller-General Immigration (CGI), Isah Jere Idris, who gave the directive, reiterated the Federal Government’s commitment to a free and fair electoral process for the 2023 general elections, according to a statement from the NIS Public Relations Officer, Amos Okpu.
Idris, during an operational briefing preparatory to the forthcoming general elections, directed the activation and deployment of all the migration management and border security assets to ensure that ineligible persons, particularly migrants, do not participate in the electoral process, the statement disclosed.
“I hereby direct that regular meetings with all the migrants’ communities in the country be intensified to sensitise them on the need to stay away from participating in the nation’s electoral process for the 2023 general elections,” the statement quoted Idris to say.
He disclosed that the NIS recently intercepted and confiscated some voter cards from certain migrants, warning that stiff sanctions await any migrant who attempts to participate in the nation’s electoral process.
Idris further stressed the agency’s ethical obligation and commitment to maintaining political neutrality in its statutory duties, adding: “As para-military officers, we are prohibited from political partisanship before, during and after the elections.
“Therefore, the Service is seizing this opportunity to sensitise its personnel through their respective comptrollers on the need to remain apolitical before, during and after the elections as members of the Service.”
While warning that any infraction or unprofessional conduct before, during or after the elections will be severely sanctioned.
He also called for constructive and patriotic engagements among all agencies, insisting that synergy and collaboration with stakeholders is essential to building a better Nigeria.
Earlier, the CGI performed the foundation-laying and ground-breaking ceremony of the Nigeria Immigration Multipurpose Cooperative Society (NIMCOS) at the NIS Headquarters in Abuja. He charged the executive committee to improve the welfare of the agency’s officers and men.
