FCTA’ll partner immigration against illegal aliens – Bello

By Abdullahi Muhammad

Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Malam Muhammad Musa Bello, has said that the Federal Capital Territory Administration (FCTA) “will work very closely with the Nigeria Immigration Service (NIS) to check the influx of illegal immigrants and squatters hiding away in some uncompleted buildings in and around the Federal Capital City (FCC).”

He stated this on Tuesday, while receiving a delegation from the NIS, FCT Command led by the Comptroller, Mr. Ahmed Yanda Ibrahim, that paid him a working visit.
He noted that there were questionable persons residing in the Territory with no verifiable address or means of livelihood, adding that various checks by officials revealed that some of them were illegal immigrants.

Bello said the FCT Administration would team up with the Immigration Service on issues that were intelligence related to eradicate “these categories of persons and other miscreants that are staying illegally in the Federal Capital Territory.”
“I will like to appeal to you to continue to provide support for us, especially as we profile a lot of people that we find in the city in abandoned buildings and locations where you just simply see so many people and you don’t know what they do. Most of the times, once you check, you will see that some of them are actually aliens,” he said.

He acknowledged the “good working relationship between the FCTA and the NIS,” saying the former would do everything legally possible within its mandate to sustain and strengthen the relationship.
“A few months ago, I discussed with the Comptroller-General with respect to his request to open a second passport office in Abuja and a place has been identified for you in Area 10; that place can be arranged to serve that purpose.”

He promised to allocate a befitting plot of land for the Service to build its FCT Command in the Federal Capital City to enable it serve the residents better.
Speaking earlier, Ibrahim appealed to the Minister to give the Command a new office within the metropolis, saying that “we now stay in Gwagwaglada, while other state commands are situated in the capitals of the 36 states of the federation.”

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