The federal government yesterdayattributed its inability tocurb illegal migration into the country on the porousness of the borders, which he said are barricaded only with woods and tyres.
The minister ofInterior, Comrade Abba Moro, who made this revelation yesterday during the 2013 Ministerial Platform in Abuja, noted that no fewer than 1, 497 illegal routes and 84 legal routes had so far been identified by the Nigeria Immigration Service (NIS).
“The condition of our borders is alarming. It is unfortunate that the illegal routes are barricaded by tyres and woods, which create an easy route for terrorists into the country. I want to assure you that we will contain the situation that has beclouded our country for a long time.
Moro revealed that the ministry had procured a large cache of firearms to improve security and border patrol.
“HP CDAN Voice and Data Radios have been procured and are being installed in 59 Immigration locations nationwide,” a strategy, he said, would provide effective communication links between the state commands and border control posts.
Comrade Moro expressed optimism that Nigeria would soon return to peace and gave a pass mark to the four para-military agencies under its supervision in their effort to actualize the transformation agenda of the present administration. He noted that efforts put in place by the NSCDC in ensuring the protection of major assets of the nation, which include oil pipelines andprevention of oil theft through bunkering among others, were yielding fruit.
He also noted that NSCDC had also embarked on aggressive training and retraining of its armed squad, adding that a sizeable number of its armed personnel was working jointly with the Nigerian Army to enhance their capacity to tackle the present security challenges facing the nation.
On the issuance of visas to foreigners, Moro said that President Goodluck Jonathan had also approved the issuance of visas to genuine businessmen and top management staff of multinational organisations at points of entry into the country.
He also said that the e-passport registration embarked upon by the NIS would replace the era of duplication where one person can duplicate over 20passports.
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