Federal Government has identified 1,497 irregular routes being used by illegal immigrants to gain entry into the country.
Minister of Interior, Mr. Abba Moro, said this at the Presidential Villa, Abuja on Wednesday.
Moro said the development had made it difficult for the government to properly secure its international borders.
He said the government was concerned about the nation’s porous borders, especially when some of the illegal immigrants had been allegedly playing active roles in the security challenges facing the country.
He said, “There is no doubt that in any country, foreigners come in. There is no exception to that but when criminally-minded foreigners come into the country with legitimate papers, without proper travel documents, it becomes a concern for the government.
“Moreso, when these foreigners are alleged to be part of insecurity by participating in suicide bombings and some of the conflicts that we have on our hands, certainly it is a serious concern for the Federal Republic of Nigeria.
“It is as a result of this concern that the Federal Government has started to increase attention to addressing this border porosity.”
Apart from building watch posts, Moro said the government would introduce electronic components to the surveillance of the Nigerian borders with a central post in Abuja or any part of the country.
He expressed the hope that the electronic surveillance would help reduce if not completely eliminate border infiltration.
The minister reiterated the resolve of government to capture the biometric data of all persons entering and leaving Nigeria.
He said, “We are presently partnering with Galaxy Backbone, it is the major platform for capturing this data and of course the national identity commission is in an aggressive move to ensure we have adequate data record of all persons that enter and leave Jos and all persons including Nigerians resident in Nigeria. We will get there soon.”
Minister of Interior, Mr. Abba Moro, said this at the Presidential Villa, Abuja on Wednesday.
Moro said the development had made it difficult for the government to properly secure its international borders.
He said the government was concerned about the nation’s porous borders, especially when some of the illegal immigrants had been allegedly playing active roles in the security challenges facing the country.
He said, “There is no doubt that in any country, foreigners come in. There is no exception to that but when criminally-minded foreigners come into the country with legitimate papers, without proper travel documents, it becomes a concern for the government.
“Moreso, when these foreigners are alleged to be part of insecurity by participating in suicide bombings and some of the conflicts that we have on our hands, certainly it is a serious concern for the Federal Republic of Nigeria.
“It is as a result of this concern that the Federal Government has started to increase attention to addressing this border porosity.”
Apart from building watch posts, Moro said the government would introduce electronic components to the surveillance of the Nigerian borders with a central post in Abuja or any part of the country.
He expressed the hope that the electronic surveillance would help reduce if not completely eliminate border infiltration.
The minister reiterated the resolve of government to capture the biometric data of all persons entering and leaving Nigeria.
He said, “We are presently partnering with Galaxy Backbone, it is the major platform for capturing this data and of course the national identity commission is in an aggressive move to ensure we have adequate data record of all persons that enter and leave Jos and all persons including Nigerians resident in Nigeria. We will get there soon.”
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