BY ANTHONY ADA ABRAHAM
The Comptroller General , Immigration Service, Isah Jere Idris (MFR) has commended the World Chairman International Peace Commission for confirming the appointment of Amb Hussaini Haruna Coomassie as the Head of Mission International Peace Commission (IPC)-Nigeria.
This was made known when Dr Coomassie and his team paid a courtesy visit to the Immigration Boss at the Service Headquarters to show appreciation to the service for it’s effort during the process of his confirmation.
Jere appreciated the effort and doggedness of Dr Coomassie for being a worthy Ambassador of NIS and Nigeria. He promised to look into some issues brought up by the Head of Mission, International Peace Commission (IPC-Nigeria) to move the service forward.
He also promised that before the end of the Buhari administration, printing of passports would commence in Nigeria. And that staff welfare is one of his major focus areas of leadership for the Service.
“I would like to congratulate you on this appointment as an Ambassador of Peace. It is by the grace of God that you are there and NIS has played an important role in your confirmation because, we were contacted and we told them who you are, behold today, you are confirmed.”
” We are working hard to secure our borders and, thankfully, with the approval of Mr. President, the NIS has secured the go-ahead for E-Border. Because with the massive nature of our boarders, it is only with technology that we can effectively secure it.
“We pray that you support our efforts in asking for more fundings from the Federal Government and donour agencies too. We do not necessarily require money from them but logistics to enable us maintain the borders so we can be at peace”, he said.
Speaking earlier, Amb. Hussaini Coomassie called on the CGI to, as a matter of urgency, look into certain areas in the NIS that are of concern to Nigerians. On his own part, the Head of Mission promised to do everything in his power that will draw the attention of the government to increase funding for the NIS.
“Immigration needs more allocation to operate optimally in the 21st century. The lack of fundings for the NIS operations must not be allowed to continue. And we pray that you work on waiver and the printing of passports in Nigeria.
“Immigration need to be supported otherwise the borders will continue to be poor. In Katsina State for example, you cannot differentiate a Katsina man from a man that hails from Niger Republic. That is because the boarders are porous and they enter without checks.
“We will push for immigration to have more allocation to be very effective, with lots of operational vehicles and other logistics.
