Rivers’ NIS Command commences ‘Operation Guguwa’ to track irregular migrants, quota abuse, immigration law infringement

The NIS State Comptroller, James Sunday, said the exercise became imperative for the Command to embark on the operation in view of cases discovered through intelligence gathering and activities of its operatives in the intelligence and surveillance section of the investigation and compliance  unit of the Command.

The Command, according to the statement, discovered connivance, abuses and deliberate attempts by syndicates that specialise in extorting expatriates for irregularities in their residency and work permits and promising them cover from the service apprehension and arrest.

The Service has, therefore, constituted a team to embark on the coded “Operation Guguwa” to carry out intelligence gathering, spot checks and investigate reported cases for proper documentation, profiling, investigation and recommendations for appropriate sanctioning by the service headquarters, in Abuja.

The Service mandates of Monitoring and Control of entry and exit, residency and work operations of non-Nigerians, expatriates on company quota, those on Temporary Work Permit (TWP), potential investors on Business Visa or other related visas including Visitors Pass,and any other permits recognized by the service in line with the Immigration Act 2015 and other extant immigration laws, the Command has commenced in ernest and it is yielding positive results, as locations are being visited and intelligence gathered is being deployed for successful apprehension of suspects and those alleged to be involved in abuses of relevant immigration provisions.

Officers and Men of the command involved in any act contrary to their expected roles and responsibilities are therefore warned to allow the system to work as an institution, collaboration to deny government of revenues, extortion, diversion of operational works from the state Command to other states when the Mother company or operational base is in Rivers State will no longer be condoned or tolerated.

Every state Command,  according to the release has its area of jurisdiction and limitations, so, expatriates within Rivers are therefore advised to process and regularise their documents through the command, assuring that the command will through appropriate channel forward requests to either the Service Headquarters, Abuja or the Zonal Office as the case may be.

However, circumventing or undermining the role of the State Command will only amount to abuse of due diligence process and the command will not entertain cases of extortion or infringement by unauthorised individuals or group in the regularisation of stay, visa process and endorsement and other facilities at the disposal of the state Command.

In like manner, the release also warned touts at the passport office Annex to stay clear and allow applicants get the best service and treat, because cases of extortions and undue delay in processing passport for applicants through interference by third party or touts , will not be condoned as internal checker and intelligence machinery have been put in place for the good image of the service and the Command.