BY MIKE OSAROGIAGBON
Benin City – Edo State Command Comptroller of Nigeria Immigration Service (NIS), Mrs. Rabi Garba has stressed awareness creation as a veritable tool to curtailing Smuggling of Migrants (SOM) within and outside Nigeria.
She called on all NIS officers in the state to take sensitization seriously in order to win the ongoing onslaught against Smuggling of Migrants and its perpetrators in the state.
Comptroller Garba stated this during a Nationwide Sensitization on Smuggling of Migrants (SOM) for NIS Officers, Border Management Agencies, and the General Public in collaboration with Development Partners in Benin City on Tuesday, October 24, 2022.
The programme was sponsored by the International Centre for Migration Policy Development (ICMPD).
“This forum is designed to sensitize and educate the public on the dangers associated with SOM which is gaining prominence in recent times”, she emphasized.
Also, the Comptroller General, Nigeria Immigration Service (NIS), Isah Idris stated that the event was timely considering the huge challenges Smuggling of Migrants, poses to Nigeria.
The comptroller who was represented by the Assistant Comptroller General in charge of Migration Directorate, NIS headquarters, Abuja, Angela Esekhaigbe, explained that available records revealed that many Nigerian Migrants have become vulnerable to smuggling because of their desire to patronize smugglers.
“NIS will continue to ensure capacity building for personnel, development of relevant legal framework and deployment of technology and basic awareness to help tackle SOM in and outside Nigeria”, the CG maintained.
One of the resource persons at the programme, an Assistant Superintendent of Immigration, Danladi Wosha, said smuggling is a crime against the State.
He explained that smugglers benefit more in the business because of the high fees they charged and other materials gains they get from the victims.
Wosha however identified the key players in smuggling of migrants to include the coordinators/organisers, the informants, and spotters, save house operators, guide of victims, the transporters and unauthorized passport producers.
The Edo Commander of the Nigerian Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC), Mr Dan Oko commended NIS for exposing the menace of Smuggling of Migrants.
He pledged his organization’s synergy with NIS in combating smuggling of Migrants and illegal migration.
“It is a right step in the right direction because sensitization is key to reducing the sufferings people go through due to ignorance”, Mr Oko stated.
An awareness campaign against SOM organized by NIS, Edo State Command was taken to schools and markets in Benin City on Wednesday, October 26, 2022 to climax the end of the three-day sensitization programme.
