…Acting Comptroller General advocates for establishment of more data capturing centres
By Seun Adams
The Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Interior, Dr. Oluwatoyin Akinlade has stressed the need for the Nigeria Immigration Service (NIS) to embrace digitization and automation of its work process.
She handed over the charges while delivering a speech at the 60th anniversary celebration of the Nigeria Immigration Service (NIS) on Tuesday, in Abuja.
Meanwhile, the Acting Comptroller General of NIS, Caroline Adepoju, has advocated for the establishment of more data capturing centres to ease the bottlenecks and challenges of getting passport within and outside Nigeria.
The Permanent Secretary added that for the Service to fulfil its mission, strengthen the security and property of Nigeria through proactive, effective and efficient border security and migration management, it must embrace digitization and automation of its process as canvassed by Head of Civil Service of the Federation (HoSF), Dr. Folasade Yemi-Esan.
To achieve these goals, Akinlade stated that NIS must embrace the digitization and automation of its work process as canvassed by the HoS.
She added, digitization is fundamental to the work you do as an organisation with huge international orientation and as such, you must see the digitization and automation agenda as fundamental to the realization of your mission.
The Permanent Secretary acknowledged the fact that Nigeria Immigration Service has actually started well and even gone far in that direction with the implementation of migration reforms known as the e-migrant registration.
She said this development has significantly enhanced capacity of the service to manage migration effectively. Adding that the launch of the Nigeria Visa Policy (NVP) in 2020, is a significant step forward in modernizing and securing our border security and migration management efforts.
This policy according to her ensures that the service maintains a robust and secure screening process for all visitors, while facilitating foreign direct investment into the country.
She further indicated that in the face of both local and global security challenges across the world such as terrorism, human trafficking and other cross border crimes, emphasizing that we cannot but deploy technology, digitization and automation to improve our services and better secure our borders.
The Permanent Secretary congratulated the service for attaining 60 years, which she said is a status of senior citizen in the life of a civil servant and she also commended past Comptrollers General of Immigration for been there for the service even after their retirement.
Earlier in her speech the Acting Comptroller General NIS, Caroline Wura-Ola Adepoju, said Nigeria Immigration Service has recorded unprecedented development considering its humble beginning.
She stated that the service has evolved to a modern and efficient service which she attributed to the solid foundations laid by her predecessors.
The Acting CG also advocated for establishment of more data capturing centres to ease the suffering of Nigerians both at home and others in diaspora.