FG’s e-border project: An outsider’s view

ALMOST a year into the effective take-off of the Federal Government’s E-Border project as being effectively implemented by the Nigeria Immigration Service (NIS), some developments that have followed need to be assessed. First as a way to x-ray the performance of the NIS as an agency of government under their supervision of Dr. Olubunmi Tunji-Ojo, the Minister of Interior within the President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s renewed hope agenda, and secondly as a way of assessing the connection between policy elucidation, implementation and congruence between projections and outcomes. There is no doubting the fact that the issue of irregular migration through unauthorized borders is a global challenge. The most recent US election had issues surrounding such movements well debated and the policy direction of the newly Inaugurated Trump presidency attests to it.  The peculiarities of Nigeria, it is being hemmed in between different Sahel states and the fact that there are  numerous cross-border communities interacting on commercial and family and cultural basis amongst others, place more pressure on her in this direction.

The E-Border solution was therefore conceived with the variables highlighted above in mind. One of the aims of the project was to deliver a total of 40 E-verification gates across multiple airports in Nigeria by the end of the first quarter. These installations were to include 10 gates in Abuja, 21 in Lagos, five in Kano, and four each in Enugu and Port Harcourt. All have been built, but only Abuja and Lagos are fully functional at the moment. To actualise the set goals, and obviously mindful of these challenges, the Comptroller General of the Immigration Service  on assuming office conducted border assessment tours across our various border posts, commands, and formations in the country, to assess the status of our borders and reinforce inter-agency collaboration. It is safe to opine that the tours must have enabled her to identify areas of vulnerability and take proactive measures to strengthen our borders.  Obvious from the agency’s subsequent actions is the fact that the tours also strengthened its border community informants network, providing it with timely and actionable intelligence on potential security threats.

Little wonder gains have been recorded in droves. Late last year, precisely on the 10th of December,  84 illegal migrants were apprehended in Oyo State. These individuals, mostly under the age of Twenty (20), were upon interrogation confirmed to be involved in different cyber and other related crimes. They were also confirmed to be from such African neighbours as Congo Brazzaville, Central African Republic (CAR), and the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). Specifically connected with the E-gates system is the arrest of 14 persons of international security interest! What this means is that from information gleaned from the immigrants which was then ran through the E-gates database, they were confirmed to be persons who pose security threats of international dimension! Such persons would have seamlessly dissolved into Nigeria if the initiative had not been commenced. But that was not all. One Mrs. Uadiale Christiana Jacob, aka Christy Evan Osagie, a wanted convicted leader of an international human trafficking network, was also arrested by operatives of the NIS at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport in Lagos on the 24th December 2024. Again, it was through the use of the e-gate process.

Just a week ago, 90 illegal immigrants were apprehended by the NIS in Rivers State. Their profiling revealed that 85 of them are Cameroonian, 5 Chadians, aided by 4 Nigeriens. Of the 94, 74 are males and 20 females. This again point to a more proactive, more diligent and more focussed Immigration Service. Yet these achievements, remarkable as they are, do not conclusively on their own prove that the NIS has arrived the desired destination in the bid to make our nation safer through renewed vigilance on her borders. What it shows is with more efforts, better outcomes are possible. It also shows that much more has to be done, that for the NIS, there is still much room for improvement.

Such possible improvements may however not come until other phases of the e-border solutions are commenced. For the truth is that the e-border solutions were scheduled to be installed and deployed in three phases, and only the first phase has just been operationalised.  That first phase has however brought some positive developments as earlier shown.  For instance, the NIS has intercepted and repatriated one hundred and Seventy-six [176] migrants along Nigeria’s border with Benin Republic in the past 6 months. This is true of all other border areas where the NIS has received positive feedback from the community and other sister security agencies.

Yet the NIS was operating under international parameters. It had to be careful to avoid the over-generalization of all irregular migrants as criminals, terrorists, and bandits, a reality that the United Nation’s Conventions and other regional protocols to which Nigeria is a signatory frowns at.

It has to on one hand be able to allow regular migration, avoid criminalizing undocumented migrants, and refrain from stigmatising Nigeria’s neighbours without proper evidence and facts, on the other. Again, the NIS has to navigate around the fact that citizens of both Benin Republic and Niger Republic being members of the ECOWAS region do not require visas to enter Nigeria and that Chad, yet another country from which immigrants flock in, enjoys visa-free entry to Nigeria for visits not more than 90 days! In a way therefore, the close cultural and historical relationships at the border communities have in no small way affected the performance of the e-border effort. But the NIS seems to have apprehended this reality. Within the last one year, it introduced the issuance of ECOWAS National Biometric Card (ENBIC) that will ensure proper documentation of ECOWAS migrants as they transit between their countries of origin and Nigeria. This document doubles as a residence permit for citizens of ECOWAS apart from being a travel document.

The service has also continued with the e-registration of migrants, an initiative that commenced in 2019 and has registered over 250,000 foreigners between then and late 2024. The NIS through this effort has acquired and is keeping biometric records of all categories of migrants in Nigeria. At all times, the NIS has never for once kept its attention from closely monitoring the movement of migrants into Nigeria as part of its mandate. Even when Nigeria’s borders were closed in 2020 against the inflow of goods, the Federal Government did not order the closure of borders against humans and the NIS did not reduce its vigilance in any way.

No doubt, the E-border initiative as being implemented by the NIS has helped greatly along the line, it is hoped that further phases will do more to keep Nigeria and her borders safe and protected from dangerous and criminal elements while guaranteeing the movement of others under the laws of the land.

• Fagbemigun is an Abuja-based multimedia journalist, he can be reached via [email protected].

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