…Explains validity of Visa
Nigeria Immigration Service (NIS) has reacted to a re-trending video in which an out- bound passenger accused its personnel at Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Lagos of demanding gratification from her over the validity of her visa.
Reacting to the video, in a statement by the spokesman of the service, Amos Okpu, the Acting Comptroller General of Immigration Service, Isah Jere Idris who said the video was being retrended by mischief makers to portray the leadership of the service in bad light, recalled that the video was first circulated in 2017 and all the issues raised in it were found to be untrue after thorough investigation by security agencies at the airport.
“The Acting Comptroller General of Immigration Service, Isah Jere Idris is in receipt of a re-trending video of an alleged incident involving an out-bound passenger at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport Ikeja, Lagos sometime in August 2017.
“The Service would have ordinarily ignored the re-trend but for the need to inform unsuspecting members of the public that the re-trending of the video is the handiwork of mischief makers who have been struggling and indeed dissipating their naked energy to portray the current leadership of the Service in bad light.
“Suffice it be mentioned that the said incident was subjected to full investigation by all the agencies at the airport then.,” the statement added, “during the investigation, so many facilities including the CCTV system were deployed to unravel the veracity of the claims but nothing of such was found. It is however, unfortunate, that some persons now find it relevant to embark on a re-trend of an unverifiable incident of 2017 in 2022 for reasons best known to them.”
The service which however used the opportunity to explain the migration facilitation processes and systems it put in place across its frontiers for the pleasant experiences of visitors, said: “the Service has continued to deepen its public engagement exercises to create enriched understanding of its processes and procedures by prospective visitors and the public at large. It has made some considerable progress in its visa reforms efforts and wishes to assure that it will fairly and justly implement the Visa reforms in line with best practice.
“As one of the strongest tools in modern migration management, Visa remains a conditional approval granted to a migrant by a government allowing the holder to enter, remain, work or to leave a certain territory within a given period of time.
“Consequently, it remains the responsibility of the service to determine the period of stay to be allowed any visitor into the country. It is therefore, important to stress that there is a difference between the period within which a valid Visa must be presented at any entry Post and the actual period given to the holder by the endorsement Officer at the Border Control. The period stated in a holder’s Passport especially for Visas issued at the Missions is really the period within which the holder is expected to present same at entry Post for assessment by the Border Control Officer. It is not essentially the actual period the holder will be allowed to stay in the country.”
The Acting Comptroller General who assured of quality service from personnel of the service, urged members of the public to always give timely and detailed reports of any unprofessional conducts by any of its personnel for appropriate actions.
“The Acting Comptroller General wishes to use this medium to assure the various publics of improved service delivery across service windows while also calling on them to feel free to constantly insist on quality service from our Personnel. He encourages that timely and detailed reports of any unprofessional conducts by any Personnel be made appropriately for necessary actions,” the statement said.
I think the complainant ought to be invited to state her position. CCTV cameras cannot unravel that. Since her details were captured she should be invited. It is after then that the Leadership of NIS can confidently strike out the matter
I’m so glad that the immigration authority decided to respond to this retrending video as they have called it. I know personally that the immigration is improved and trying to carry out seamless service at the airport however we need to do more to sustain the effort at repairing the damage done to the reputation of their brand and Nigeria in general. It’s been an ongoing assault on our image so they have to be consistent and intentional and must take their officers especially the ones that work at the airport through training and retraining. They must set up a structure or a punitive measure that will deter officers from committing such crimes in future. They should liaise with the Nigerian Institute of Public Relations and other similar agencies to help them in this task. Let us stop going on self denials. These things are happening daily in our airports but the truth remains that the immigration leadership is doing something but not enough.