Border Security: NIS Command And Control Centre Comes Alive With Induction Of 123 Officers

By Bukar BOLORI

In order to enhance the nation’s security and checkmate the threat of porous border, the Federal Government on Monday inducted 123 officers into the Command and Control Centre facility at the Headquarters of the Nigeria Immigration Service (NIS) for border control, security and governance.

The Minister of Interior, Hon. Olubunmi Tunji-Ojo, assisted by the Comptroller-General of the Nigeria Immigration Service, Mrs. Kemi Nanna Nandap inducted the officers at the NIS Headquarters in Abuja.

Speaking at the event, Tunji-Ojo said the infrastructures and facilities inside the Centre have been fully integrated with International Police (Interpol) and other security outfits across the world to do pre-profiling of passengers and pick up persons of interests anywhere in the world. 

He said: “Persons of interest would be picked up anywhere even before they board their planes to Nigeria because the facilities here have capacity and capability of pre-profiling passengers.”

The Minister, while revealing that President Bola Tinubu would soon commissioned the newly completed electronic passengers gates (e-gates) at the Airports in Lagos and Abuja, said the Command and Control Centre would operate 24/7 to monitor land,  maritime and air borders of the country. 

He noted that Nigeria is deprived of the luxury that other countries in Africa have as its geographical location that places it around 10 countries in the Sahel region and the Gulf of Guinea in the south where about 5 million barrels of crude oil is produced per day, makes it imperative for the borders to be well guided.

The Minister said with the commencement of operation of the Centre, the Nigeria Immigration Service has gone beyond procurement of travelling documents for its citizens, but now fully integrated into the security architecture of Nigeria to play a dominant role. 

Tunji Ojo said: “The NIS is now a crucial component of the National Security Architecture of Nigeria. We have here, the NIS that is determined to implement its responsibility. Nigeria Security now depends on you especially with the infrastructures and facilities in place at the Command and Control Centre.

 “These facilities provide data on Advanced Passenger Information System (APIS). It means nobody should come to Nigeria without pre-profiling them. So we have this facility for irregular migration and real time analysis on passenger movements. 

“I am prepared to give my best to Nigeria to ensure that the system works effectively and efficiently. I urge you as the first set of officers to man these facilities across the country to give your best as well. 

“There will be zero tolerance for error. And we have arranged the system in a way that fatigue would not set in on the officers that would be on shifts at every point so that they would do their jobs seamlessly.”

On her part, the Comptroller-General of Immigration Service, CGIS, Nandap said about 253 officers were selected for special training regarding the manning of the infrastructures at the Command and Control Centre, noting that the first set of 123 officers were representatives of various commands across Nigeria. 

Nandap, who described the induction as a special day in the history of the NIS, said the officers who scaled through the first stage of the training would move to the next stage which involved data analysis and travel plans.

She said the Advanced Passenger Information System, APIS, would enable the NIS pull data from different sources to track down persons of interests and check mate possible threats against the country.