The Nigeria Immigration Service (NIS) has registered no fewer than 4, 377 migrants under the ongoing e-migrant registration.
NIS Comptroller-General Mr Muhammad Babandede made this known at a press conference on the successes recorded of the project by the organisation.
President Muhammadu Buhari had on July 12inaugurated the Migrant e-Registration and Data Processing Centres at NIS Headquarters in Abuja.
The president, while inaugurating the centre declared six-month amnesty to migrants who had stayed in Nigeria beyond 90 days without resident permit.
He said it was the job of the service to register any person who was not a citizen of Nigeria, “The law says if you have stayed or are going to stay for a period of 90 days, you are expected to register.”
Babandede, who said the registration would end on January 11, 2020, said the amnesty would affect only those who were in the country when the amnesty was given.
“It means that after the President’s inauguration, if one has been in Nigeria and you are staying irregularly, not that you have committed an offence, the President has given you amnesty up to January to register.”
He cleared the misconception that the amnesty was allowing migrants to be citizens of Nigeria.
“This is not so. Citizenship is entirely a constitutional matter. You are not going to be a citizen of Nigeria with the amnesty. The amnesty does not give you amnesty against crime; it does not give you amnesty
to stay when you are not qualified,” Babandede said.
He also stated that majority of persons who had registered were staying in the country illegally.
The comptroller-general disclosed that out of the 2, 175 registered at the headquarters, 1, 194 were staying irregularly.
While stating that the registration had been rolled out in Delta, Oyo, Kwara, Ogun and Rivers, Babandede called for high level support from state governors and traditional institutions to achieve greater results.
He said for the migrant e-registration, the data of the migrants would be forwarded to the National Identity Management Commission (NIMC) to develop a special number for them.
