TheCable

President Muhammadu Buhari has directed the Nigeria Immigration Service (NIS) to enhance border surveillance ahead of the forthcoming general election.

Rauf Aregbesola, minister of interior, spoke on Tuesday during the inauguration of the Katsina NIS command office and roll-out of the enhanced e-passport in the state.

“President Muhammadu Buhari has ordered that Nigerian borders should be made impenetrable to foreign bodies who might want to come in and manipulate the election process or engage in other nefarious activities,” he said.

“The order from the president is that between now and the time that we conclude all the elections, please make our borders impregnable. They should still remain impregnable, even after the elections.

“We don’t want a situation whereby those who are not qualified to vote in Nigeria will come into our nation to illegally participate in the process.”

The minister reiterated that the primary assignment of the service is border control and not passport issuance.

He said migration management is another primary responsibility of the service, and that the NIS must ensure migrants are effectively regulated and documented.

He assured that the nation’s borders would soon be covered using the latest surveillance technology.

“We are deploying electronic digital technology to ensure 24/7 inch-by-inch surveillance of the 4,500 kilometres borderline from the eastern part to the western part including coastlines,” he said.

“This is one of the several achievements of the president’s administration.”

He added that Katsina has 14 border positions across a 400km borderline manned by immigration personnel, and assured that the government is confident of protecting the border positions.