By Omeiza Ajayi

The federal government has announced a six-month amnesty window for irregular migrants in the country to voluntarily turn in themselves to the Nigeria Immigration Service for the purpose of free electronic registration.

Speaking at the Official Commissioning of the Migrant e-Registration and the Passport Data Processing Centres yesterday in Abuja, President Muhammadu Buhari who was represented by the Secretary to the Government of the Federation SGF, Boss Mustapha, described the move as government’s deliberate commitment to harnessing accurate data of its citizens and statistics of migrants, especially those who wish to stay beyond 90 days within the shores of Nigeria.

He said the centres are significant to the nation’s drive for robust internal security and national development, adding that “while the Migrant e-Registration Centre will collate and store data of non-Nigerians within our shores, the Passport Application Processing Centre, on the other hand, will provide improved issuance of passports and eliminate touting as well as corruption in line with government’s policy on Ease of Doing Business, thus, promoting transparency and efficiency in service delivery”.

On his part, Comptroller General, Nigeria Immigration Service NIS, Muhammad Babandede said the commissioning of the Migrant e-Registration Centre is significant as it kick-starts the e-Registration of all migrants in Nigeria.

He said, the Immigration Regulations 2017, under Section 22 sub section 1 and 2 provides that; “The Service shall maintain a Registry of Immigrants” and “That a register of all Immigrants shall be kept in the registry containing such information and particulars of an Immigrant as the Comptroller General may from time to time direct. It is on this basis that I directed the register to be in an e-form.