Ndudi Anyim
President Muhammadu Buhari on Friday, commissioned the Technology Building, Command and Control Centre of the Nigeria Immigration Service (NIS), in Abuja, this is as he directed that 50 percent of personnel in the service be posted to border outposts.
The commissioning which was done virtually, had the Minister of Interior, Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola, and other dignitaries in attendance.
Delivering a speech titled, ‘A NEW DAWN IN BORDER MANAGEMENT‘, Aregbesola said the role of Information Technology cannot be over emphasised in border management.
He revealed that the newly built command will collate all date coming from border and security management outposts of NIS.
“ The complex is the national command and control centre for all data coming from border management outposts, be it satellite, earth connecting stations and unmanned space vehicles.
“ The centre receives and gives out still and motion pictures and audio signals in real time, coordinating seamlessly movements within our borders.
“ The ministry recognize the preeminent role of information technology in security management. In the past, border watchers rely on language, physical look and ethnicity for the purpose of identification. This requires a lot of guesswork and the system was beaten easily with disguise, ” he said.
Speaking on the directive by the President, the Minster said: “ The Nigeria Immigration Service has been directed to concentrate more on the borders by deploying 50 per cent of its personnel to border outposts, and the Ministry will make adequate arraignment to support the deployment with materials and needed logistics.”
The minister further assured Nigerians that the security challenges bedeviling the country at the moment are surmountable and are indeed being addressed.
“ Though the concerns are shared, but there is no need to despair. We are doing everything possible to tackle the security challenges facing our borders, land, sea and air,” he stated.
He expressed profound gratitude to President Buhari, for his relentless commitment to ensuring that the security and welfare of Nigerians remains a top priority for his administration.