The federal government of Nigeria has inducted 123 officers into the Command and Control Centre facility at the Nigeria Immigration Service (NIS) to reinforce the country’s border control, security, and governance capabilities.

Speaking during the induction ceremony on Monday in Abuja, the Minister of Interior, Olubunmi Tunji-Ojo, said the strategic move aimed to enhance national security and streamline operations at the NIS.

Mr Tunji-Ojo said the infrastructures and facilities inside the centre have been fully integrated with International Police (Interpol) and other security outfits worldwide.

“Persons of interest would be picked up anywhere even before they board their planes to Nigeria because the facilities here have capacity and capability of pre-profiling passengers,” he emphasised.

The minister said the centre would operate 24/7 to monitor the country’s land, maritime, and air borders.

He said Nigeria does not have the luxury that other African countries have, going by its geographical location to 10 countries in the Sahel region and the Gulf of Guinea in the south, where about five million barrels of crude oil are produced daily.

Mr Tunji-Ojo said that with the commencement of operation of the centre, the NIS had gone beyond the procurement of travel documents for its citizens.

Mr Tunji-Ojo, however, said President Bola Tinubu would soon inaugurate the newly completed electronic passenger gates (e-gates) at the airports in Lagos and Abuja.

In her remarks, the NIS comptroller-general, Kemi Nandap, said about 253 officers were selected for special training regarding the manning of the infrastructures at the Command and Control Centre.

Ms Nandap said the first set of 123 officers were representatives of various commands nationwide.

The NIS CG explained that the Advanced Passenger Information System (APIS) would revolutionise the agency’s ability to identify potential security threats.

She said this would be done by harnessing data from various sources, adding that APIS enabled the NIS to track individuals of interest and preemptively mitigate potential dangers to the country.

APIS facilitates the collection and analysis of passenger data, allowing for real-time risk assessment and targeted interventions.

This proactive approach strengthens national security and enhances the NIS’s capacity to safeguard Nigeria’s borders. 

(NAN)