Lifestyle

NIS hands over 11 victims of human trafficking, enroute Libya from Niger Republic, to NAPTIP

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The Nigerian Immigration Service (NIS) has handed over 11 victims of human trafficking to the National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons (NAPTIP) Sokoto.

A spokesperson for the service, Tony Akuneme, said this in a statement on Sunday in Abuja.

Mr Akuneme said that the victims were repatriated back to Nigeria by the Niger Republic Police and handed over to the Nigeria Immigration Service at the Illela Border Command.

According to him, the Comptroller of Immigration, Illela Border Command, Ado Rano-Sabo, revealed this on Friday, March 10, while handing the victims over to the zonal commandant of NAPTIP in Sokoto.

“The 11 victims, who were all women, were apprehended in the Niger Republic on their way to Libya.

“The young women are from different parts of the country and of various ages ranging from 19 to 37,“ he said.

Mr Akuneme advised Nigerians to desist from such perilous journeys, noting that most victims were used for labour exploitation, prostitution or organ harvesting.

World News

The rate at which Nigerians are leaving the country is worrisome – Nigeria Immigration Service

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The Nigerian Immigration Service (NIS) has described as worrisome the alarming rate at which Nigerians are leaving the country in search of greener pastures abroad.

Speaking at a sensitization campaign on the scourge of Smuggling of Migrants (SOM) for stakeholders in Enugu State on Thursday, November 3, The NIS boss in Enugu state Joachim Olumba said.

“Indeed, this program couldn’t have been held at a more appropriate time, considering the alarming rate at which, not only the youth, but older generation of Nigerians exhibit interest to leave the country.

This is creating a worrisome phenomenon which has come to be popularly known in local parlance as “Japa” The Immigration boss stated that the appetite to jet out of the country was usually driven largely by social, economic, and security concerns.

He mentioned that Nigerians, especially the youth, were leaving the shores of the country in their droves.

“To many, what is paramount is to achieve the goal of migrating from the country and not the means of reaching their destinations.

Whether they are smuggled or trafficked, or they even get to leave the country by means of a stowaway, does not really matter to them.

The ultimate interest is to relocate to foreign lands. As far as the vast majority are concerned, the end will eventually justify the means” he said

Olumba averred that the desperation had brought unspeakable and unprintable hardships on numerous Migrants.

Lifestyle

Immigration rescues eight trafficked children in Ekiti

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The Nigeria Immigration Service (NIS) has rescued eight trafficked children in Ekiti State.

The NIS Comptroller in the state, Alphonsus Achilonu, who disclosed this to journalists on Thursday in Ado-Ekiti, said the children were being trafficked from Benue State to end-users in Lagos and Oyo States.

He added that a suspect was arrested by the agency.

Achilonu said: “NIS Anti-Human Trafficking squad, acting on a tip-off and through intelligence gathering, arrested one man while trafficking the eight children, who are minors, to their end users in Lagos and Ibadan.

“The eight victims had been reunited with their families. Many people are in the business. They have to be checked at all cost and the best approach is for the government, parents and all well-meaning Nigerians to ensure that they are sincere with the provision of basic needs for these children, put them in schools, create enabling environment, and provide jobs for them.

“What we do to whoever we arrest is to investigate properly, gather evidence, and handover the person to National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons office in Osogbo, Osun State for diligent prosecution.

“The NIS has a lot of responsibilities which our people are not aware of. Apart from issuance of passports, we patrol borders and we also have a rapid response squad to back up police, Department of State Service and other security agencies while performing very sensitive operations. “

Politics

Immigration rescues four trafficked women in Jigawa

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The Nigeria Immigration Service (NIS) has rescued four female victims of human trafficking in Jigawa State.

The Comptroller of NIS in the state, Isma’il Abba, told journalists in Dutse on Friday that the victims were rescued at Gurai village in Babura local government area of the state.

Abba said the victims were rescued by the Service personnel operating at Kazaure-Babura-Ringim axis on Thursday.

He added that the victims who are between ages 16 and 33 were rescued on their way to Tripoli, Libya, enroute Jigawa/Katsina border.

Abba said: “A suspected collaborator of the trafficked victims was arrested by the Service personnel. A preliminary investigation revealed that the victims were from Akwa Ibom, Lagos, Ogun, and Osun States.

“The victims would be handed over to the National Agency for Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons (NAPTIP).”

Politics

Immigration suspends issuance of passport

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The Nigeria Immigration Service, (NIS) has ordered the suspension of application and processing of new passport in all NIS offices nationwide.

A statement signed by the Deputy Comptroller General, AB Yarima, said the the directive took effect on May 17, 2021.

The service described the suspension as a necessary step to ease the preparation for the commencement of a new passport regime.

This directive, which comes into effect from today, May 17, 2021, has become necessary to allow enough time to clear all backlog of applications sequel to the commencement of the new passport regime on June 1, 2021.

Consequent upon the foregoing, all PCOS are therefore directed to utilise this period, May 17, 2021, to May 31, 2021, to ensure that all backlogs are produced and handed over to command comptrollers for collection by members of the public concerned,” the statement said.

All offices nationwide were advised to comply with the suspension of all applications until June 1, 2021.

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