Bode Olagoke
Abuja
The federal government has launched new Immigration Regulations, 2017, aimed at preventing the influx of terrorists, killer herdsmen and some other irregular immigrants.
The new regulations are also designed to enhance the protection of the country’s borders against trans-national crimes, particularly movement of terrorists through fierce collaboration with Interpol.
While presenting to the public in Abuja yesterday, Minister of Interior, Lt.-General Abdulrahman Dambazau (retd), said the new document replaces that of 1963, following the need to address operational challenges aimed at making the Nigeria Immigration Service responsive to global migration trend.
According to him, the new regulations include temporary permit, visa on arrival, entry for business purposes and immigrants register among others.
On how the new regulations will check Boko Haram and some dreaded herdsmen, the minister said, “certainly, remember I mentioned that it will curtail the movement of trans-humans.
“There is absolutely no doubt that we have herdsmen who go from Nigeria to other countries and we also have from other countries that come to Nigeria. There was an ECOWAS decision in 1998 which provides for control of movement of trans-humans, which include providing reception centers by host countries and also issuing international trans-humans certificates which is provided by the ECOWAS.
“So, these regulations will be able to enhance that decision which has been since 1998, but has not been implemented. We are working on that. As you know the issue of herdsmen and farmers clashes is not just a local issue, it is an issue that has wider regional implications because ECOWAS once recognises free movement which includes that of trans-humans.”
In his opening remarks, the Comptroller-General of the Nigeria Immigration Service (NIS), Mohammed Babandede, who described the achievement as “historic,” said until May 21, 2015, when the revised Immigration Acts was enacted, the NIS operated with the 1963 Act which was not only obsolete, but grossly inadequate to contain unfolding migratory realities.
Babandede said aside from providing legal framework for effective implementation of the Act 2015, “the revised document consolidates all existing Immigration Regulations.”
He said the revised regulation was a product of painstaking discourse that included contributions from experts, as well as serving and retired Immigration Officers.
While presenting the highlights of the Immigration Regulations 2017, the ministry’s legal adviser, Adebola Odugbesan, said the new regulations had a core objective to replace the former regulations which had been in existence 54 years ago.
It was also noted that the first Immigration Act, passed by the parliament in 1963, only allowed a maximum of N100 fine for offenders, but the new one had increased the fine to N1 million.
