No severance benefits for lawmakers who fail to return diplomatic passports –CG Immigration

Members of the National Assembly

Comptroller-General of Nigeria Immigration Service, Muhammad Babandede, speaks with ADELANI ADEPEGBA about strategies being implemented to curb touting at passport offices and the challenges of policing the nation’s open borders

Why is it difficult to obtain passport booklets?

We are in a transition. I want Nigerians to appreciate that we are moving to a new passport regime which Mr President launched on the 15th of January, 2019 and we are concluding the process. We are rolling out a new improved 10-year validity passport for Nigerians. This passport is polycarbonate with 25 additional features. It must be processed online; there is less cash transaction. The transition is bringing a lot of challenges such as scarcity. It is because of that we decided to run the two (old and new passports) concurrently until the old expires. Even with the challenges, we are still producing to meet demand. Like the video of the Ikoyi passport office I saw online showing a lot of people trying to collect passports; I was happy that they were collecting and not applying. What the Ikoyi office did was to work overnight. They produced 2,000 passports and collection became an issue. The queue was for collection of passport booklets. I think we should be happy for producing such a large number of booklets. But the people had no patience to pick up their passports. We will do our best to address the scarcity as the new passport comes on the 29th of April.

What is the NIS doing to eliminate touting at the passport offices?


We redeploy officers that have stayed up to three years. We have also reduced cash transactions. Ikoyi office is the highest producer of passport booklets. According to the latest data I have, the office is producing 15 per cent of the current passport booklets. The volume is very high; because of that, we work with Guaranty Trust Bank. We have a room where applicants can pay to the bank staff with their (credit or debit) card. And if an applicant decides to pay cash, he can still pay to the GTB staff. But some people still prefer to call their friends in the immigration service. This is one thing with Nigerians; they would apply for passport only when their travel time is at hand. You have three months to process your passport before it expires. But when you wait till the day you want to travel, you would be forced to patronise touts. Even officers would exploit that opportunity. We are doing our best to reduce touting. I keep saying this: when you put pressure on individuals under difficult circumstances, the tendency is that you would give bribes to survive. We used to direct women wishing to change their bio-data to come to the NIS headquarters in Abuja, which is expensive. They might prefer to give someone a N10,000 bribe instead of going there. So, we directed people to do the change of data at the state commands. We are doing our best to address this problem.

But the new passport would offer better options. We have been advertising online the cashless process. We are working to make passport booklets available to reduce touting.

We are also introducing the 10-year validity; instead of renewing your passport every five years, you do it every 10 years. It would reduce the number of people coming to our offices. A lot of officers are facing disciplinary actions for touting and procuring false documents.

Officers apprehended for procuring court affidavits for applicants or falsifying documents have been dismissed.

Are you saying high passport demand and the Nigerian way of doing things are responsible for touting at the NIS offices?

When there is scarcity, there would be touting. That is why we are producing more passport booklets to meet the demand. If we have enough, it reduces touting. If you also remove cash transactions, it would reduce touting. If you make the validity of the booklets longer, it would reduce touting. We have been educating Nigerians and we would continue to educate them not to patronise touts; go through the official channels.

Most of the cases also involve passport loss. We know there are people who are victims of robbery or fire incident. But a lot of people declare loss of passports for bad motives. If you apply for a visa at an embassy, it would be stamped. But some people may not want to present the passport if their visa application was rejected; they would declare it lost and apply for a new one. Some people apply for visas with fake endorsements.

Some would obtain police report or court affidavit for loss of passport so they can apply for a new passport. So, basically, they have two passport booklets. But now, we are beating them to the game. Once you declare your passport lost, it is automatically cancelled in the system. We have arrested many individuals at the airports for fake declaration of passport loss. That is why we established a unit called Document Fraud Investigations Unit. We have many cases from the United States Embassy. People apply for visa with fake Schengen visa stamp and when they are found out, they abandon their passport and declare it lost. Later, we will get the passport from the embassy and flag you as a wanted person at the borders where you are arrested for false declaration.

Was that why you detained the Chairman of DAAR Communications, Chief Raymond Dokpesi?

No, the case of Dokpesi is still being investigated. But I would like to state clearly that he is among the people who are on travel ban. In addition to his court case, anybody who is on Presidential travel ban is not allowed to travel out of this country, but he travelled. We only saw him when he was returning and this could not have been possible except with the connivance of immigration officers at the airport. We are investigating this case and everyone involved. We have confirmed that he travelled out of the country while on travel ban. He said the court gave him the passport. We have written to the court which is a superior institution. If the court had informed us that it allowed him to travel, we would obey the court order. That is why we wrote to the Chief Justice of Nigeria that we should be informed about any passport seized by court. There is a possibility that the man would inform us that his passport was lost, obtain a new one and travel.

I like to commend the Lagos State judiciary for cooperating with the immigration service. Any passport they confiscate, they (officials) inform us and this prevents us from re-issuing it. That man (Dokpesi) is on travel ban; we would not allow anyone on Presidential travel ban to leave the country.

Did you suspect any connivance with those at the airport?

The case is under investigation. We know he travelled and it was not legal for him to do so. Contrary to his tweet, we didn’t harass him, but we didn’t respond to his tweet because it was not necessary. We didn’t stop him from entering the country; nobody can stop you from entering the country. We checked the passport and gave it back to him. Later, we invited him; he said he had deposited the passport with the court. The case is being investigated. Nobody harassed him; nobody arrested him. But he has the right to say anything; we don’t have the kind of media reach he has.

Is it lawful to bar people from travelling since they have not been convicted?

Anything done by Mr President has adequate legal advice from the Attorney General and Minister of Justice. This has been discussed at the national level that he has the power to place a ban.

Is there anything being done about the cost of the new passport, which many consider as too high?

We are giving passports with 10-year validity with additional pages at double the price. I don’t think the cost would be a problem. Nigerians do not want to go through touts; they want to get their booklets through a more organised and responsible way. They do not want hassles because of the National Identity Number. Remember, the President and Vice President were issued the passport after submitting their National Identity Number. I see no reason why people should say it is expensive because we have three categories of the booklets: the diplomatic passport, which is usually not paid for; the official standard passport for adults with five-year validity, which costs N25,000; we have for children – those not up to 18 – will get it for N25,000. As a child, we can’t give you the passport with 10-year validity because your features would change. If you are an adult and wants the passport with 10-year validity and fewer pages, you pay N35,000. The N70,000 fee is for adults who want the booklet with 10-year validity and 64 pages. So, you have a choice. There is a menu for you to choose from. You can choose the one for five years and pay N35,000. If you prefer the booklet with 10-year validity and 64 pages for N70,000, what is wrong in that?

What are you doing to check the abuse of diplomatic passports?

Since President Muhammadu Buhari came into office almost four years ago, he has not approved one official diplomatic passport for anybody. But when we came on board, we had a lot of unqualified persons who were in possession of diplomatic passports. We have said that any person who comes to our borders with a diplomatic passport, we would take it if you are not qualified to hold it. What we have done is to link the diplomatic passport with the standard and official passports. If you have a diplomatic or official passport and you are staying in Canada, for instance, because you were a honourable (National Assembly member), when your passport expires and you come to renew it, it will not be renewed. We have cases like that. One former lawmaker was staying in Canada or Ireland; his passport expired. When he went for re-issue, it was not renewed. You can run away from Nigeria after losing elections. But when you come to renew your standard passport, it would not be re-issued until you return the diplomatic passport. Those who have the right to have it after they retire are the President and Vice-President.

For the incoming National Assembly members, we have written to the Clerk (of National Assembly) that they should tie their benefits to the return of the diplomatic passport. Any member of the Senate or House of Representatives leaving office must return his or her diplomatic passport before getting his or her severance benefits. The Clerk has accepted the condition. If you don’t care about your benefits because you are rich, you would care about your person and you cannot cross our borders.

When is this taking effect?

If the former members come for renewal of their passports now, we can’t give them. We would advise them to hold on until the new administration is inaugurated. We know those who won elections. Some people want to take advantage to renew their passports and get diplomatic passports for five years; we are aware. We are keeping them at bay. Some of them have enough pages, enough (validity) period, but I assure you, if they understand the consequences, they would not travel with the diplomatic passport. We like to enlighten those with diplomatic passport not to use it for unofficial trips. Members of the National Assembly should not use the diplomatic passport if they are going to buy furniture in Italy because that is not an official trip; they should use their standard passport. But if you are going on oversight assignment, use the diplomatic passport.

The influx of immigrants through the porous borders around the country is still high. Are there new strategies being deployed to check this?

We are aware that our borders are facing a lot of challenges. We cannot be everywhere at the borders. We are deploying technology; we are running a pilot phase at the borders where we have also deployed forward patrol bases. Instead of being stationary at the borders, the officers patrol the bases. We have established around 10 of them. The forward patrol bases comprise 30 officers with their commander, patrol vehicles and communication linked to the headquarters and other locations. They can talk real-time on radio. It has changed the pattern of patrol; you don’t stay at the borders, waiting for people to cross. With the technology, we have deployed an e-border solution. Some people would still find a way to come in; that’s why we have introduced a stricter control at the entry.

Those that would be affected first are ECOWAS citizens. Of course, the ECOWAS law states that you can enter Nigeria and stay for up to 90 days as a visitor, but if you want to take up employment or you want to stay longer, you need to have permission. We have started enforcing that. Any ECOWAS citizen, who has entered the country through illegal routes is staying illegally, which means that even if you are a Nigerien, Ghanaian or Benin Republic citizen, you are staying in Nigeria illegally. If you didn’t come through the airport or land border; if you stay for a period exceeding 90 days and you are working without permission, you are staying illegally.

Was that why you deported four Ghanaians last week?

We have started removing people staying illegally in Nigeria. That was why we removed the Ghanaians from our territory. We have also introduced registration of migrants. We introduced the registration for non-Nigerians and Mr President has approved it. We have been working for one year to make it happen. We want to make sure every non-Nigerian, who has entered our territory and stayed for a period exceeding 90 days, must register in their states of residence. Initially, we wanted to take it to the local government, but we don’t have the resources. We are doing a pilot scheme in the state capital. This law is very important because it also mandates the person providing accommodation to report an unregistered visitor. For example, you operate a hotel and you have a Nigerien or Canadian staying there for 90 days, it is your duty to ask him if he has registered. I am not talking about only hotels, even if it is a factory. We have got the equipment and we are training officers with it. We are also getting support from the International Organisation for Migration and funding from Germany. The software has been installed which would be linked to the entry at the airports.

This is a great innovation. We want to touch a button to know who has entered our country. We are deploying biometrics at the airports. These days, we just swap passports. We would take the biometrics of any person coming through the airport. We are starting with Kano and the project is almost completed. Kano is vulnerable because of its connection to the Middle East. The Kano project will be opened in the next one week. With this form of control at the borders, entry points and with the introduction of biometric visa in 17 locations, I think our country would be much safer. We would be able to know who is a non-Nigerian and assess what he is doing. This strategy would be completed with the construction of the Technology Building. You are aware that Mr President and the Federal Executive Council approved N7.2bn for the Technology Building. The project is ongoing.

This building will change the way Nigerian security is operating. We would be able to know anyone who wants to come to our country; anyone who has reached our borders, or is staying in our country or who has overstayed. We would be able to know anyone who is wanted by the Interpol. We should be able to share real-time local persons or foreigners wanted by the police, military, customs service and others. The future is that we would be able to know any criminal or fraudster who takes money from the bank and wants to leave the country. We would provide the best security for the country and this is achievable by 2020; that’s our target.

With this innovation, is it still necessary to have immigration officers mounting checkpoints on the highways?

Definitely, there will still be checkpoints. What we don’t want are checkpoints inside towns, which we strictly discourage. At the borders, that is necessary, and that is why we have the forward patrol bases. We have invested a lot in regional integration but not in infrastructure. The ECOWAS community has established free movement but there is no good road network. Go to the European Union, the Schengen Zone, you would see good road network and railways; you are not tempted to go through the bush. Why would you go through the bush? But if you have borders like the Nigeria-Niger borders, everywhere is a road. We have not been able to construct, within our sub-region, highways with good restaurants, filling stations with the required security measures. With these facilities, people would not be tempted to take any road. So, we need to follow the immigrants wherever they take. We have mobile machines to take their fingerprints even if they have no document, and tie it to their names. Tomorrow, when we see them, we know who they are. To patrol with personnel is necessary; machines alone cannot solve the problem.

Does the lack of infrastructure in the sub-region not show that ECOWAS leaders are not serious about development and trade in the sub-region?

I cannot say they are not keen or serious. When we talk about ECOWAS, it is a community and we are all community members. There is value in free movement, free trade among ourselves. It was the British and the French (colonial administrators) that divided us into different countries, but we have people of the same tribes, religion across the borders. The government introduced ECOWAS travel certificate; it is a passport without biometric features. Later, our leaders realised that due to the challenge of cross-border crimes, terrorism, banditry, cattle rustling, kidnapping, they said we should move to biometric cards. So, they are doing something to tackle insecurity. But we call on them to do something about economic and financial integration and human mobility. Infrastructure is necessary; there should be highways and airlines. Sometimes, it is easier to go to Europe than to travel to some African countries. There is a need for that investment to grow the economy, and move us closer.

Last year, we started working on a border strategy with the support of international organisations, where we were able to tell other colleagues in the police, military, that borders are not only a security issue. We, as immigration, see borders in four perspectives. Yes, it is a national security issue; a safe border is a safe nation. We must not allow into our country people who would harm our economy, harm our people and make the polity unstable. We must not allow our people to move out of the country through the desert where they would go and die. But it is more than that. It is an economic issue; it is a route where trade and commerce would continue; we should make it attractive for commerce. Border is a place of social integration. The man in Niger and Nigeria, the man from Benin and Nigeria, some of them are of the same tribe. They have the same culture and language. Why are we blocking them from having social integration? Lastly, it is a human right issue. There is no need in using guns and boots to harass people; there is no need to collect bribes to discourage people. Those crossing borders have rights and we must respect them.

How many illegal routes lead into the country?

I wish I know. You cannot count them. I hear a lot of stories that there are over 100 routes. Look at the desert, an open space. Our duty is to continue to use patrol and modern technology. That’s why we have e-borders where we can monitor in real-time the borders. I am not for building a wall; people would learn how to break through the wall or jump it. We have no resources to invest in that.

Are you not worried that the government, which has security as its major plank, has not done enough to secure the borders in the North-East and North-West?

If you compare this administration with the previous one, you would commend them (present government officials). I think they have done well. Investment in e-border is an investment in border security. They have also given us patrol vehicles; we have communication gadgets. I believe the government has invested, but it is also not enough for us. But they have done better compared to the previous administration.

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