Michael Olugbode in Abuja
President Bola Tinubu has approved lifetime salary arrangements for retired comptrollers-general and deputy comptrollers-general of the Nigeria Immigration Service (NIS), the Minister of Interior, Olubunmi Tunji-Ojo, has disclosed.
Tunji-Ojo said the approval was part of the administration’s efforts to improve the welfare of personnel across the interior services, alongside promotions, recruitment, salary increases and improved hazard allowances.
The minister disclosed this at the closing ceremony of a specialised training programme for 87 immigration officers in Abuja, where he also highlighted reforms aimed at strengthening border security through digital technology, integrated migration records and improved intelligence sharing.
He said the federal government had integrated more than 15 million migration records into the NIS’s digital border management system and established a data centre with a capacity exceeding eight petabytes to improve identity verification and migration monitoring.
Tunji-Ojo said the administration had also effected more than 50,000 promotions across the interior services in approximately three years, alongside recruitment exercises and improvements in personnel remuneration.
He described the welfare measures as part of broader efforts to strengthen the capacity and performance of agencies under the Ministry of Interior.
The minister said the government had developed a 10-year technology roadmap for the ministry, supported by a solar-powered data facility designed to enable the data control centre to operate off-grid.
He explained that the digital transformation was intended to address longstanding weaknesses caused by fragmented databases and analogue processes, which had hampered the effective management of visas, residency permits and the identities of foreign nationals.
According to him, the government began integrating critical information systems across the ministry and its agencies to close identity gaps and improve the monitoring of migration into and out of Nigeria.
He questioned the reliability of official records that reportedly put the number of foreign nationals working in Nigeria at about 40,000, arguing that disconnected information systems made it difficult for authorities to establish who was residing in the country and monitor their activities effectively.
“When you do not have the data of those foreigners residing in your country, then how do you manage their affairs? And how do you monitor them?” he asked.
Tunji-Ojo said the government had consequently embarked on the Centralised Interior Management System, an initiative designed to connect relevant information platforms across the ministry and its agencies.
The system is expected to accommodate correctional information management platforms, fire administration systems and other civil affairs information, with the National Identity Management Commission (NIMC) contributing to the wider effort to improve identity verification.
He said the objective was to ensure that information supplied by individuals to one government agency corresponded with records held by other relevant agencies, thereby reducing discrepancies and opportunities for fraud.
The minister also stressed the need to build local technical capacity, warning that the government would no longer tolerate technology vendors who failed to transfer the necessary knowledge to Nigerian personnel.
“The era when any vendor will hold the service of government to ransom is gone,” he said.
“If you cannot transfer knowledge, then you have no business in government business.”
He praised immigration personnel involved in developing and managing the technology platform, saying their work demonstrated that Nigerian officers could acquire the expertise required to operate sophisticated systems with appropriate training and institutional support.
Tunji-Ojo added that the government intended to develop personnel capable of helping other countries establish effective border and immigration management systems.
At the centre of the digital initiative is the Border Management Information System (BMIS), which the Comptroller-General of Immigration, Kemi Nandap, said had been integrated with the Migration Information and Data Analysis System (MIDAS), bringing more than 15 million migration records into a coordinated platform accessible to authorised officers.
Nandap said the integration represented a significant shift from information scattered across different immigration commands to a system offering a more comprehensive picture of identity, movement and potential security risks.
“The achievement is that information, once scattered across our commands, now forms one coherent picture of identity, movement and risk available to authorised officers when it matters most,” she said.
She, however, cautioned that the technology must not replace evidence, professional judgement or respect for travellers’ rights.
“An alert is not a verdict. A risk indicator calls for careful, proportionate examination. It never replaces evidence, professional judgement or respect for the rights of the travellers standing in front of you,” Nandap said.
She explained that artificial intelligence-assisted tools would flag suspicious patterns for further examination, but all outputs must be subjected to human verification and oversight.
The comptroller-general warned that inaccurate data, unchecked alerts and unauthorised access could undermine the effectiveness of the system and result in the wrongful treatment of travellers.
“No technology is infallible. Poor data produces poor analysis. Unchecked alerts cause harm,” she said.
Nandap outlined five standards for the 87 officers who completed the specialised training: accuracy, integrity, judgement, readiness and accountability.
She directed the officers to ensure that every entry into the national system was accurate, warning that careless records could mislead other personnel and compromise operational decisions.
She also prohibited officers from sharing access credentials, searching records out of curiosity or using the platform to grant favours, settle personal scores or facilitate improper passage across the country’s borders.
“Your access to this system is a position of trust, not a personal privilege,” she said, adding that any abuse would be investigated and punished.
Nandap said officers’ activities on the platform could be reviewed through digital audit trails, making accountability central to the system’s operation.
She urged supervisors to ensure that personnel were properly deployed, equipment remained functional and operational reports were completed in line with established procedures.
According to her, the programme’s success would be measured by improvements in record accuracy, consistency of border checks, timely escalation of alerts, system availability and the lawful treatment of travellers.
“The measure is not how many officers were trained or how many devices were issued,” she said, emphasising that operational performance, rather than ceremonies, would determine the initiative’s success.
She urged the graduating officers to demonstrate the value of their training at their duty posts, noting that certificates alone could not establish competence.
“The certificate you received today recognises training has been completed. Your performance in the field is what will prove that, yes, you really have been trained,” she said.
Both officials said the technology initiative formed part of a longer-term transformation of the Ministry of Interior, aimed at improving migration management, strengthening national security and building systems capable of delivering results beyond the tenure of individual officeholders.