The plethora of innovations and other achievements in the Nigeria Immigration Service (NIS) may have informed the decision of a tenure extension of Comptroller-General Isah Jere Idris by President Muhammadu Buhari.
Buhari, had, Friday, extended the CG’s tenure, which prior to this time, had ended April 24.
With the extension however, the NIS boss’ tenure would end May 29.
Jere, then a Deputy Comptroller General in charge of Finance and Account, took over from Muhammad Babandede in 2021 in an acting capacity, and got confirmed as substantive CGI by President Buhari June 2022.
The innovations
With Jere stepping in , the CG, according to analysts, brought on board several reforms in the last two years, hence the latest extension.
According to an analyst who sought anonymity, “the NIS is fast easing the difficulties Nigerians went through to obtain passports. The service has opened a vista in its life, including the new front offices across the states.
“Also, the e-passport was introduced with a view to making life easy for our citizens both at home and in the diaspora. This includes the commissioning of Daura Passport front office this year, where the CG announced the Service had issued 1.8m passports in 2022 alone, doubling that of the 2021.”
It was further gathered that Service also commissioned passport offices in Ilesha and Daura, both of which had joined Alimosho in Lagos, Zaria in Kaduna and others in Osun state.
Blueprint learnt efforts were on to further ensure the opening of more front offices to reduce traffic related to passport issuance.
Also under his leadership, the NIS has continued to transform the enhanced e-Passport in the country, and making the document one of the most secured in the world and Nigeria the first country in Africa to migrate to this type of passport.
Other innovations include the introduction of Embedded QR-Code Scanners at Clearance Counters For Passengers, Digital Clearance System, embracement of initiatives Public Private Partnerships initiatives, which have resulted to corporate social responsibilities, public sensitization and road walk campaigns on the dangers of irregular migration, among others.
Besides ensuring efficient service delivery, the Jere-led management also prioritise the welfare of men and officers via incentives for best performing offices and his active participation.
In the area of security, the Service, in the ongoing year, successfully intercepted 189 boys and girls suspected to be victims of human-trafficking at Seme border.
