The Nigerian Immigration Service, NIS, has warned residents harbouring illegal immigrants to desist or face the full wrath of the law when caught.
Comptroller of Immigration Service, Delta State Command, Emmanuel Akinrinsola, gave the warning in Asaba during an interactive session with the Nigeria Union of Journalists, NUJ, Delta State Council.
While saying it will no longer be business as usual, Akinrinsola warned that the Immigration Act of 2015 has made it a punishable offence for any Nigerian to harbour illegal immigrants, stressing that one must report any suspicious foreigner to the immigration service.
‘’We are one of the few agencies of government present at the third tier of government. We have divisional immigration officers in all the 25 local government areas of the state commands, so the issue of saying that I am ignorant of the law, I didn’t know that this man is from Cotonou, I didn’t know he is from Niger, it doesn’t arise. Once you harbour an illegal immigrant, the cost of that repatriation is going to be borne by whosoever harbours the illegal foreigner. So, it is a punishable offence under our law for you to harbour someone you don’t know’’, he said.
The Comptroller said the interactive session with journalists provides an opportunity to promote synergy between the management team of the Service and the members of the fourth estate of the realm and also to inform them of the reforms going on in the NlS.
Chairman of the Delta State Council of the NUJ, Churchill Oyowe, who led a team of journalists to the interactive session, commended the reforms in the Immigration Service in the area of digitization of passport processing and expressed the hope that passport applicants would provide the right information.
Comrade Oyowe who urged the Immigration Service to intensify efforts in regularly raiding hot spots to fish out illegal immigrants, also called on the Service to collaborate with other sister agencies such as NIMC, and NAPTIP for proper profiling of foreigners to help check the rate of crimes in the state.