Govt repatriates 300 illegal Nigerien immigrants
From Charles Akpeji, Jalingo

NO fewer than 300 immigrants believed to have illegally come into the country from the neighbouring Niger Republic were yesterday repatriated by the Taraba State Command of the Nigerian Immigration Service (NIS).


http://odili.net/news/source/2010/feb/17/6.html

The deported persons, according to the state comptroller, Abdukadir A. Ahmed, were fished out from the nooks and crannies of Jalingo, the state capital, after an operation by the officers and men of the command.

According to him, 700 immigrants from Niger Republic were earlier arrested, but after "thorough screening, we discovered that 300 of them have no genuine travelling documents. So, we immediately deported them to their country."

He added that having repatriated the illegal Nigeriens, the command would go after illegal Camerounian and Chadian immigrants in the state.

The porous nature of the Nigerian borders was identified by him as the major factor for the high rate of entry of illegal immigrants into the state, which shares common boundaries with the francophone country of Cameroun.

Ahmed, who made this known yesterday while answering questions from journalists at the command headquarters in Jalingo metropolis, described the massive presence of foreigners in the state as "alarming."

To, however, reduce this to the barest minimum, the command, he added, had mapped out strategies to carry out the exercise of fishing out those domiciling in the state without necessary document to the nooks and crannies of the entire 16 local government councils.

As a result of the porous nature of the Nigeria-Cameroun borders in the state, an Islamic preacher, who walked into the state clandestinely, has begun to preach messages which the Commissioner of Police, Musa Aliyu, described as "anti-Islam."

But for the head of the village (Dorofi) where he domiciled, his method of preaching, according to Aliyu, would have ignited a religious upheaval that would have led to the wanton destruction of lives and property in the state.

The Immigration Comptroller, however, reiterated the readiness and determination of the officers and men of the command to flush out illegal immigrants residing in the state without the knowledge of the NIS.

Lauding the support of both the state and federal governments to the organisation, he identified the unavailability of stable power supply as a major hiccup in the issuance of passports.

Though the activities of human labour and child trafficking were not all that pronounced in the state compared to other states in the country, the command, he said, was able to record three cases, which were channelled to the appropriate unit.