Minister of interior, Olubunmi Tunji-Ojo has vowed to sanitise the Nigeria Immigration Service (NIS) by eliminating the high level extortions and delays at the various passport offices home and abroad, as well as at the borders.
He made the promise while unveiling his agenda, yesterday, during a meeting with heads of paramilitary agencies, directors and newsmen in Abuja.
The minister who condemned the continuous extortion of applicants across passport offices nationwide, said the ministry would deploy more technology, as opposed to heavy reliance on the human element, in the protection of the country’s vast borders.
He said, “ The Nigeria Immigration Service has a lot of reform to undergo. We need to secure our borders and deploy modern technology to ensure that all our land, air and sea borders are secured. I assure Nigerians that we are not going to disappoint them. NIS and the whole issue of passport delays, extortions and bottlenecks must be tackled headlong. Our territory must be secured.
“I am assuring that henceforth, Nigerians, including those in diaspora must be treated with respect in all our passport offices. Foreigners should be able to come to Nigeria based on merit. It can no longer be business as usual,” he said.
The minister also promised to go the extra mile in unbundling the bottlenecks associated with response time to fire emergency and overcrowding in correctional facilities nationwide, saying, “For Nigeria Correctional Service, we must work with critical stakeholders on the Administration of Criminal Justice Act.”
For the Federal Fire Service, he said, “The response time, we are going to look into that. I know you have your challenges, but I am going to work with you to tackle them. Fire is a serious disaster and we need to optimize our processes. To this effect, we will look into the implementation of Fire Executive Order.
“Nigeria Correctional Service, we must work with critical stakeholders on the Administration of Criminal Justice Act. We have to look at how to decongest the custodial centres and effectively integrate ex-convicts back into the society. Our custodial centres must become places of hope.”
He also promised to introduce technology that will halt jailbreaks.
Tunji- Ojo who particularly commended the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps on their giant strides in the protection of critical national assets encouraged them to do more exploits as average is not good enough.
He assured the ministry’s staff of partnership and better welfare.
He promised to prioritize their welfare as an incentive to high productivity, while also promising to run an open door policy.
While directing all heads of paramilitary agencies, directors and the various heads of units to restrategise on key reforms, the minister said, “ We are result oriented, we cannot afford to embarrass Mr. President who is working day and night to renew the hope of every Nigerian.”
He warned that just as the president will hold him accountable, he will also hold the paramilitary chiefs responsible for their respective agencies.
“It can no longer be business as usual. I do not work without timelines. There must be timelines and key performance indicators because responsibility without accountability is irresponsibility”, he declared.
“Mr President is determined to secure the country and ensure that Nigerians prosper, and to achieve this, peace and security must first be attained.
“I don’t lead from the back; I lead from the front. We will try, and we will do our best to provide leadership built on the foundation of your support. So, we have no choice but to deliver,” he concluded.
