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Nigeria Immigration Service (NIS) has removed the passport control officers at the Ikoyi, Ikeja and FESTAC Town passport offices under the Lagos State Command.
The development follows a recent undercover investigation by the NIS acting Comptroller-General, Isa Idris, who had on October 18 disguised as a passport applicant to gain firsthand knowledge of underhand deals by some of his officers.
Those affected by the development include passport control officer at Ikoyi office, Ibrahim Liman, a Deputy Comptroller of Immigration, and his counterparts at the Ikeja and FESTAC Town passport, N.J Dashe and Adeola Adesokan respectively.
The removal of the trio was contained in an internal memo titled, ‘Senior Staff Posting Order,’ PREMIUM TIMES reports.
The memo, signed by the Deputy Comptroller-General in charge of human resources, A.B Yarima, noted that the new posting is with immediate effect.
“I am directed to convey approval for the following posting with immediate effect,” the memo reads in part, listing the officers affected.
While Liman and Adesokan have been transferred to the service headquarters in Abuja, Dashe has been transferred to the Zone ‘A’ Command of the service which covers both Ogun and Lagos States.
A Deputy Comptroller of Immigration, Abolupe Oladoyin Bewaji, was appointed asLiman’s replacement while Dashe and Adesokan were replaced by R.L. Bukar and S. Umar, both of whom are also Deputy Comptrollers of Immigration.
Also affected are A.I. Bambale, who has been moved from Zone ‘A’ command to the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport in Abuja.
Bambale, a Comptroller of Immigration, was replaced by Sunday James, who was moved from the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport in Abuja to Zone ‘A’ in Lagos.
James is the immediate past spokesperson of the service who was replaced in June by an Assistant Comptroller of Immigration, Amos Okpu.
The acting Comptroller-General noted that the service will continue to work towards comprehensive reform, saying the integrity of the service as the image of the country was paramount.
Idris, who expressed regret that despite efforts to bring sanity into the service, there are still officers who he described as recalcitrant and unyielding to the efforts.
“But we will not give up. We inherited a service that Nigeria was proud of and our own legacy cannot be different. We must be remembered for the good that we do. So we pledge our commitment to taking the service to the peak of glory,” Idris said.
The acting CG called on Nigerians to collaborate with the management in sanitising the service, saying without givers there would be no collectors.
“So, the reshuffle is just another step towards sanitising the system,” he added.