Determined to effectively police the land and sea borders of Akwa Ibom State, the Nigeria Immigration Service (NIS) has trained a total of 130 officers and men of the State Command on efficient leadership and pro-active service delivery.
The NIS State Comptroller, CIS Livingstone Amadi, who stated this in an interview in Uyo, the state capital, said the training regime became necessary in order to keep operatives of the Command in good stead for any emergencies.
Amadi said that the Command had earlier trained 100 officers and men on the best practices of border security and management.
“The essence of the training is to inculcate in the officers the need to update their knowledge of migration management.
“Between now and the end of the year, there will be constant training sessions to keep officers abreast of the global trend on how to receive travelers at the airport, seaport and border posts.
“The officers and men of the Immigration Service need training on modern-day migration technique because they are the gatekeepers of the country’s borders,” Amadi said.
He explained that leadership training programme was organised for the officers and men of the Command in collaboration with the Eunice Thomas Leadership Academy (ETLA), an Uyo – based Non-Governmental Organisation (NGO).
Amadi said that the Command was keying into the vision of the NIS Comptroller-General, CGI Muhammad Babandede, with the aim of empowering officers through training to make them efficient and proactive.
The State Comptroller, who is barely three months old in Akwa Ibom, said that his mission to the state was to engineer reforms that would see the Command work in line with international best practices in terms of service delivery and staff discipline.
He advised the Nigerian youths to be wary of making risky trips abroad in search of opportunities for quick money, the climate of insecurity in most countries of the world called for caution before embarking on illegal migration.
Amadi urged the youths to cultivate the habit of hard work, self-discipline and patience, emphasising that Nigeria had enormous opportunities for the youths than risky travels abroad.
In her remark, the president of the Eunice Thomas Leadership Academy (ETLA), Mrs Eunice Thomas, said she was impressed by the level of discipline and efficiency in the NIS, Akwa Ibom Command.
Thomas, who is a former Commissioner for Women Affairs and Social Welfare in Akwa Ibom, lauded the State Immigration chief for giving the state headquarters of NIS a facelift.
She said that her academy decided to collaborate with NIS in the state on leadership training “based on the positive changes I have so far seen in the operations of the Command”.
Besides, Thomas commended the State’s NIS for efficient service delivery, noting that “I have witnessed the Command issue passports to applicants within one day, unlike what used to be the order of the day in time past”