The Comptroller-General of the Nigerian Immigration Service (CGIS), Mr Idris Jere on Monday received encomiums in tons, from stakeholders, over the sack of eight officers of the Nigerian Immigration Service (NIS), following proven illegalities.
The Stakeholders, with some of them being passport holders and regular travellers, praised the Comptroller General for upholding justice, noting that the punitive measures meted out to the erring NIS members was long overdue.
Mr Kenneth Kure, a Chief Superintendent of Immigration, of the NIS Public Relations Unit, broke the news announcing sack of eight personnel on Nov. 4, in a statement.
Idris Jere, CG Nigerian Immigration Service
The statement indicated further that 100 personnel attached to the Murtala Mohammed International Airport ( MMIA) were redeployed, raising the hope that the Comptroller General was actualizing a thorough cleaning exercise.
It also said that 18 other personnel had been sanctioned for various offences ranging from gross misconduct, employment racketeering and other forms of corrupt practices.
Finally, the report highlighted that the sack and the redeployment followed the approval granted by the Civil Defence, Correctional, Fire and Immigration Services Board (CDCFIB); with the CDCFIB noting that “the conducts of the personnel have remained grossly unbecoming and unacceptable as members of the Service.
It would be recalled that a recent report in October, showed a traveller, with the Twitter handle @derby__, narrating her ugly experience at the airport in Lagos, accusing some officials of the agency of alleged extortion and bribery.
The traveller who displayed the picture of one of the accused in her tweets said the officers lied to her that because she was not yet 40 years old, she would not be allowed into the United Arab Emirates (UAE).
The lady who alleged to have parted with some amount of money as bribe then advised intending young travellers to be wary of unscrupulous people at the airport.
Responding swiftly to the news of the sack, a mother of two, Mrs Ada Agbomoagan whose son is studying in the United States applauded the CIGS’ move, stressing that she was the happiest on hearing the news.
“My daughter always travels with extra cash.
“Some officers see immigration work as a business rather than service to their fatherland,” she said.
Another respondent and regular traveller, Mr Anthony Nworah, said that NIS should have introduced such punitive measures before the incident that led to the sack of some of its personnel.
Nworah posited that some personnel always outsmart policies to ensure passports are procured by potential seekers at unofficial rates.
“However, I commend Jere for being upright and for ensuring that the culprits paid the price for greed”, he said.
A banker, Mr Akehinde Bello, who works with one of the new generation banks, similarly decried how his international passport was not released to him, even after he had paid the approved amount.
Bello while commending CGIS Jere said that there was a need for the management of NIS to fish out other bad eggs within the system.
A passport seeker, Mr Ganiyu Ero however, urged NIS to always release information that would guide passport seekers from making mistakes that NIS officers could capitalise on while providing services for them.
