Insecurity: Include NIS in security architecture of FCT, Comptroller tells Wike
By Ibironke Ariyo
The Comptroller, Nigerian Immigration Service (NIS) FCT Command, Tony Akuneme, has appealed to the Minister of Federal Capital Territory, Barrister Nyesom Wike, for the inclusion of NIS as a para-military organisation, in the security architecture to fight the increasing security threats in the territory.
Akuneme made the appeal in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Sunday in Abuja.
He said that the NIS had always been part of the monthly security meetings in the Federal Capital Territory Administration (FCTA) prior to this time.
He also said that all the heads of security agencies in FCT should come together under the leadership of the FCT Minister to discuss issues of security in FCT.
He added that members of faith-based organisations and traditional rulers were always part of the meeting.
“But for some reasons, the present FCT Minister, Nyesom Wike, since assumption, has not summoned that expanded security meeting that holds monthly for reasons best known to him.
“We think he prefers to use the Police, Army, DSS and NSCDC. In the wisdom of the Minister, these ones are the most important ones. Others are not relevant to his plans.
“This is not right at all and should be reversed. I have over 1,500 officers across all the six local council areas. They gather intelligence that could be useful in handling security issues in the FCT, “he said.
The NIS boss said he had written a letter to the Minister on behalf of other heads of paramilitary agencies to registered their surprise with the exclusion adding that he was yet to receive any acknowledgement or reply.
He said: “We submitted the letter two months ago requesting for audience, but that has not been done.
According to him, “We need to meet with him so we can let him know our value and the input we can make to the issue of insecurity in FCT.
“We appeal to the Minister to look into this matter. There’s need for us to be part of that meeting.
“For instance, the FCT Sector Commander, Federal Road Safety Crops (FRSC) Mr. Chorrie Muta’a is the one that you should ask about one-chance in FCT roads which has been a big menace to FCT residents.
“90 per cent of criminals are drug addicts and yet the FCT Commander, National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) Mr. Kabir Tsakuwa, who knows where to catch all the drug addicts in FCT, is excluded in the war against insecurity.
“Half of the crime committed in FCT are done by non Nigerians who are scattered all over the FCT. It’s only the Immigration officers that can profile them,” he said.
According to him, our officers across the area councils gather information about movement of non Nigerians in the FCT.
“But that is not used effectively by the FCT Administration to tackle insecurity because the channel of communication has been closed.
“So, the action of the Minister to exclude heads of para-military agencies from security meetings in FCTA is counter productive and should be reversed.
“Security is about intelligence gathering and is set up like a chain, so can you say which part of a chain is the weaker link? The chain should be strong to ensure the desired goal is achieved,” he said.
Akuneme emphasised that it was not a difficult task identifying non Nigerians that have unleashed terror on Nigerians as NIS personnel have the required training to identify the people.
He said that the NIS had formations across the country including Divisional Immigration Officers (DIOs) in all the 774 LGA that monitor every locality.
“They gather information through interactions with community leaders and others. They also interface with heads of foreign communities in a particular location.
“We have good working relationship with them and it has been yielding the right results. We often carry out enforcements, and each time we find illegal immigrants, we bring them to the Headquarters for proper documentation.
“The NIS Comptroller General, Kemi Nandap is committed to achieving great success with the support of our Minister and incidentally, our officers and men are top notch ready for the great goals we have set out for ourselves.
“All we need is a little push from the Federal government in terms of inclusiveness and improved budget,” he said.