The House of Representatives has called for stricter enforcement of the Federal Government’s border closure policy by deporting illegal immigrants, among other measures.
The House at the plenary on Tuesday resolved that the current closure of the country’s land borders against movement of goods was not enough, calling for restriction of human trans-border movements.
The lawmakers particularly urged the Federal Government “to immediately review the immigration procedure in our borders with a view to restricting illegal immigration and deportation of illegal aliens residing in the country.”
They also urged the Comptroller-General of the Nigeria Immigration Service, Muhammad Babandede; and the Comptroller-General of the Nigeria Customs Service, Col. Hameed Ali (retd.), to “be committed to and exercise full control over the movement of persons and goods along the Nigerian international borders.”
The resolutions were passed based on the unanimous adoption of a motion moved by Mr Rotimi Agunsoye, titled, ‘The Closure of Nigerian Territorial Borders Not Enough.’
Moving the motion, Agunsoye said, “The House is aware of the continued closure of Nigeria’s land borders, which have remained closed to passage of goods and persons as well as other economic activities for the past three months.
“The House is cognisant of the monstrous challenges bedevilling the economy of the nation as a result of illicit and rampaging activities that have festered along the borders all around the country.”
The lawmaker noted that the decision by the Muhammadu Buhari administration to close the borders followed the global trend of an increased monitoring of international borders to check and ascertain, especially, the inflow of goods and immigration of foreigners.
Agunsoye, however, said, “The House is worried about the continued influx of illegal immigrants mostly of African descent into the country, who gained easy access through the various porous land borders. The uncontrolled immigration of unlawful immigrants into the country poses strained socio-economic and political threat to the country.
“The House is cognisant that to have a sustained economic growth as well as security and political stability, Nigeria has to strengthen and control movements at borders and repatriate illegal aliens and unlawful immigrants. The implementation of stringent immigration policies and restrictions of illegal movements along the country’s international borders would sprout an imminent verbal and direct attacks from neighbouring countries and other countries of the world.”
Meanwhile, the House also resolved to investigate the allegations by the Nigerian Army that some non-governmental organisations in the North-East were conniving with Boko Haram insurgents.
The House, therefore, resolved to mandate the Committee on Civil Societies and Development Partners to “investigate the allegation by the Nigerian Army that NGOs operating in the North-East zone are abetting terrorists in the area.”
The committee was asked to “ensure the brokering of agreement between them in order not to jeopardise the provision of aids for the Internally Displaced Persons in the zone.”
The House asked the committee to report back within four weeks for further legislative action.
NIS registers 61,137 undocumented migrants
Commenting on the call by the lawmakers to deport illegal aliens, the NIS said it would not carry out the deportation of irregular migrants until the end of the six months amnesty period granted undocumented migrants to register with the service.
The NIS spokesman, Sunday James, said the grace period announced by President Muhammadu Buhari would end on January 12, 2020.
He stated, “The President gave a six-month amnesty period which would lapse in January 2020. We cannot carry out deportations until then, we cannot disobey the presidential directive on that.”
James disclosed that 61,137 undocumented migrants had so far registered with the service, adding that the exercise was still in progress.
We travel 40 minutes to buy fuel – Seme border dwellers
People around the Seme border are feeling the pinch of the customs’ directive banning supply of fuel to filling stations around the border communities.
Our correspondent gathered that due to the continued closure of filling stations around the borders, the community dwellers are forced to travel a distance of 40 minutes from Seme to a filling station around Badagry to buy fuel.
The journey is however undertaken by people who own cars. Those who do not and just want to refuel their generators are forced to buy at exorbitant price from fuel hawkers.
Anthony Tope, a bike man who lives at Seme told our correspondent that people who could buy fuel in kegs later sold to people in need at the rate of N200 per litre.
“The reason is because the closest filling station is at Badagry, about 40 minutes away and one has to go that far just to fill his tank,” he said.
The situation has resulted in a hike in transport fare and general high cost of living.
Our correspondent gathered that a fare of N50 now goes for N150.
In addition to the high cost, night travellers are subjected to all kinds of harrowing checks by the Customs, with some allegedly giving out bribes to be allowed free passage.
A source in the Customs told our correspondent that a few arrests had been made.
The source said over the past few weeks, the Customs had apprehended petty rice smugglers who attempted to conceal the items in their underwear and other hidden parts of their body.
Idiroko: Smugglers bribe security agents at checkpoints, convey fuel to Benin
Residents of Idiroko in the Ipokia Local Government Area of Ogun State, alleged that smuggling persisted in the area through the aid of the joint task force at the border communities .
The residents, who spoke exclusively with one of our correspondents, lamented that the policy by the Federal Government to ban fuel supply within 20 kilometres of border communities had brought untold hardship to the people in the state .
Some of the residents alleged that some petrol marketers in the affected area continued to bribe their way through all the checkpoints to smuggle fuel into the Republic of Benin.
The PUNCH gathered that some petrol marketers whose filling stations were sealed because they fell within the 20 kilometres of border area reportedly partnered some owners of filling stations in Owode, which is 28km away from the Idiroko border .
A resident identified as Akinola Elijah accused the security agencies of sabotaging the effort of the Federal Government by allegedly collecting bribes from smugglers.
He explained that smuggling of fuel had become a major means of survival for the people of the area.
He added, “There is fuel, but they are smuggling it into the neighbouring country. “Smuggling of fuel into this place is in two ways. There are those that are using it to do business. They are paying the security personnel and taking the fuel to the Republic of Benin.
“The second set includes those that are using motorcycles to get the fuel and come back to sell it at black market to us at the price we cannot afford.
“The situation of things has turned everyone to a petrol marketer because whoever has the opportunity of getting five litres would be able to sell it at a high price.
“The issue there now is that all the security agencies are the people sabotaging the effort of the Federal Government. We understand the position of the Federal Government on this issue, but there is no way they can achieve any success with the activities of those security men.
“Some petrol marketers have gone to Owode to rent filling stations and they have started selling fuel there.
“They will bribe security men at all the 35 checkpoints and convey fuel to the Republic of Benin.
“The Federal Government cannot achieve anything with this. They are just putting the problem on the masses because we, artisans, don’t have anything.
“We cannot do anything because fuel is our major means of survival here. We that are buying five litres for domestic use are the ones being disturbed by this government policy.
“The security agencies are allowing people with tanker loaded with fuel to pass after they have collected bribes from them .
Another resident , Ajibade Idowu, lamented that the directive of the FG had turned many residents in the border area to fuel smugglers.
Idowu explained that the closure had led to hike in transport fare and prices of goods in Ipokia area of the state.
He said, “We don’t have fuel up till this moment. We buy fuel at N300 per litre and what is being sold to us as a litre is not up to a litre.
“They are using shampoo plastic to measure it. Some people use bottle and it is not up to a litre if you measure it with a regular litre. There is no power supply from the electricity distribution company here. We have to power our generators, so, we have no choice.
“We have to keep on praying and begging since we don’t have anything we can do to it from our side. “The fuel scarcity has affected everything . From here (Idiroko) to Ipokia, we pay motorists N400, which was initially N200
Efforts to get the reactions of the Nigeria Customs Service Public Relations Officer for the Ogun 1 area Command, Abdullahi Maiwada, did not succeed. He failed to respond to messages sent to his mobile phone.
