In the next few months, it would be an offence for any foreigner to stay in Nigeria without valid papers as the government has given ultimatum to all migrants of various statuses to validate their stay or face the consequences. ELEOJO IDACHABA writes on how the move would assist in federal government’s fight against insecurity.
At last, the federal government has bowed to pressure from Nigerians to monitor migrants in the country in view of the precarious security situation in recent times. This is even as fingers have been pointed at some migrants for the several killings and banditry leading to loss of lives and destruction of property in almost every part of the country.
Lending credence to this is the fact that President Muhammadu Buhari, during one of his visits to London in 2017, admitted that killer-bandits in the country were mostly foreigners from Libya. Similarly, a former minister of agriculture, Chief Audu Ogbeh, had placed the cause of killings in the country at the doorsteps of foreigners, who he said were behind the farmers, herders’ clashes across the country.
Speaking during a town hall meeting in Abuja in 2017, Ogbeh said the government would make a presentation to the Africa Union (AU) on measures to prevent illegal entry of herders into the country.
FG gives ultimatum
In line with Ogbeh’s presentation, the federal government recently directed all illegal migrants in the country to register with the Nigerian Immigration Service (NIS) within six months under the migrant e-registration programme.
President Buhari, who handed down the directive during the inauguration of Migrant e-Registration and Passport Application Processing Centre at the NIS headquarters in Abuja, warned that “any alien who fails to comply with the directive within the stipulated time would be declared an illegal migrant.”
The Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), Mr. Boss Mustapha, who represented the president at the event, explained that the e-registration would aid internal monitoring and integration while enhancing national security.
The president assured the international community that the Nigerian government was committed to the protection of the rights of migrants; he, however, made it clear that it was also necessary to identify what they do for a living in the country.
According to him, “I am declaring a six-month amnesty period for irregular migrants already in the country to submit themselves to the NIS for the purpose of this registration which would be carried out without any payment or penalties.”
On its part, the NIS which commenced registration of migrants residing in Lagos state in line with the directive warned that any migrant who failed to register upon expiration of the six-month amnesty granted by the president and continued to reside illegally in the country would be punished accordingly.
Its comptroller in charge of Lagos, Mr. Ekpedeme King, gave the warning while speaking at the commencement of the exercise in Lagos justified the registration, stressing that the power to carry out the registration exercise was derived from the Immigration Act of 2015 and Immigration Regulation Act of 2017 “which is in tandem with the United Nations conference at Marrakesh, Morocco, in 2018.”
He said the conference which was on the theme of ‘Global Compact for Migration’ advocates for safe, orderly and regular migration, pointing out that its implementation requires a comprehensive statistics of migrants.
In Rivers state, the NIS comptroller, Barrister Rasheed Segun Adegoko, speaking during the flag-off of the exercise, said: “The e-registration is for us to know the number and activities of non-Nigerians living in Rivers state. They would be documented when they come in and their biometrics and pictures would be captured.
“So, if you ask me, in few month times about the number of non-Nigerians living in Rivers state, I would tell you off-hand from this exercise. Now, the beauty of it is that there is an amnesty because you may want to ask me about those who are staying irregularly, not illegally, there will be amnesty.
“President Buhari in his magnanimity has granted a six-month window amnesty. So, even if you are staying and you don’t have papers, just come forward. There is no penalty; we would guide you, we would assist you.”
While kick-starting the exercise in Niger state, secretary to the state government Mr. Ahmed Matane said the e-registration would help to monitor the influx of irregular migrants into the country, enhance national security, as well as aid internal monitoring and integration.
Defaulters risk sanctions
The deputy comptroller of Immigration (DCI) on African Affairs, Mrs. Caroline Ngere, speaking on the exercise in Lagos recently, also said non-compliance with the directive “may attract sanctions after 90 days.” According to her, though the government was yet to disclose the specific sanction for non-compliance, it would be advisable for migrants to comply with the directive.
“After all, Nigerians are complying with the federal government’s directive on compulsory registration with the National Identity Management Commission (NIMC). Why would illegal migrants defy government directives on such important national matter? Nigerians in other countries who violate such directives have faced the consequences in the past; therefore, it is mandatory for every migrant in the country to comply in their own interest,” she said.
In most cases, illegal immigrants indulge in menial jobs in order to earn a living hence majority of them are classified as non-experts including cart pushers, keke and okada riders, construction site assistants, scavengers and security guards among others.
This is as investigations have shown that these illegal immigrants indulge in violent crimes and are difficult to track because they do not possess valid resident permits and identification. , they are itinerant in their lifestyle. For some who have a permanent address, their immediate family are in their home countries, therefore, not one much is known about their background making it equally difficult to track them when they are suspected to have committed crimes.
Nexus between illegal migration, insecurity
The spate of violence crimes in the country has been linked to the influx of illegal migrants and the attendant proliferation of small arms as well as ammunition that find their way through Nigeria’s numerous porous borders. This is in addition to the allegation of compromise on the part of government officials charged with protecting the country’s borders.
According to a senior police officer attached to INTERPOL Abuja National Central Bureau (NCB), who wished to be simply identified as Udom, there is a nexus between illegal migration and insecurity.
Speaking to Blueprint Weekend on the marching order by the federal government on registration of migrants, he said: “Take a look at the number of the boys pushing carts in the markets and water vendors in many settlements in Nigeria, majority of them are not Nigerians and they don’t possess valid papers.
“When you arrest and interrogate any of them, they would tell you that they don’t have any paper, but the shocking revelation is that they will tell you that they paid before they entered the country. When you ask them to show you the evidence of payment, they will tell you that the papers are with somebody somewhere.
“There seems to be a cartel within the country that packages those itinerant boys to enter the country for inexplicable reason. Unfortunately, for a long time the government did not consider it necessary to have the data of illegal migrants. However, soon you would hear stories, especially when security operatives begin to arrest them for non-compliance with the deadline for the on-going e-registration, which they may not even be aware of anyway.”
An Abuja resident, Desmond Momoh, who spoke to our correspondent on the nexus between illegal migration and insecurity, said, “The unfortunate closure of Amigo Supermarket and Wonderland in 2014 due to security reason is an example of how illegal migrants can cause havoc in any country. Visit any of the stores and chains of franchise owned by these Lebanese people, you would discover that almost all their nationals are working there.
“It may also interest you to know that they may not also possess the prerequisite papers to stay and work in Nigeria. Lebanon, as at that time was under the cross fire of the Arab Spring. So, many of them ran to Nigeria illegally to take cover and that was why the DSS traced some weapons to their stores in Abuja and Kano. No serious government would fold its hands while foreign nationals enter illegally.”
Merits of the initiative
For the chief executive, Centre for Advocacy, Transparency, and Accountability Initiative (CATAI), a non-governmental organisation, Abubakar Sadiq Mu’azu, the exercise would surely go a long way in checkmating insecurity in the country in as much as it is conducted properly.
He said the porous nature of Nigeria’s border “is a major contributing factor to this unending insurgency leading to the proliferation of arms in the hands militants.”
“This exercise would help all agencies and actors to know the people entering into the country as well as their background for easy access. Nigeria has suffered a long time effect of illegal migrants from neighbouring countries which contributed massively in the insurgency in the past.
“In the recent past, most of our problems have to do with lack of adequate data of persons crossing our borders. This has variable effects towards making our people to accept ideologies that can be a treat to our national security. To that extent, corruption is one of the contributing factors leading to the influx of migrants in the country without validation.
“Recently, across some borders in the North-east, heavy military trucks passing through to other African countries as a result of our porous nature of our border were intercepted. There is, therefore, a need for strict surveillance by a joint task force of Immigration, Customs, and the military to halt this incidence,” he said.
On his part, NIS spokesperson Mr. Sunday James, in an interview with Blueprint Weekend, said the exercise is primarily for record keeping for national planning though there may be other benefits accruing from the exercise.
He said, “What the service is doing through the e-registration of migrants is because we intend to use it to check insecurity. In the first place, it is not yet established that illegal migrants are responsible for the seeming security breaches in the country, so it would be unfair to say that the exercise is targeted at them for security reasons. The exercise is for a robust data management in order to assist the government in regular planning. It is not a new thing anyway; this is on-going, just as government does so in order to have an accurate number of its citizens. Within the six months window given to all of them, they are expected to have come up and register in designated centres.”
