There has been disquiet in several quarters among the officers of the Nigerian Immigration Services following varied complaints of what they termed disruptions in foreign missions duty as well as lack of salary payments.
This situation has led to the intervention of the Civil Liberties Organisation which said it has learnt of the plights of the officers.
Speaking with journalists in Jos the Plateau State Capital on the issue, the Executive Director of the CLO, Steve Aluko, said officers who have been posted for more than two years now have not yet proceeded on foreign missions to their respective countries, and they have raised a serious concern.
According to the Director, “even the Immigration attachés said they no longer know their fate, as there are strong indications to replace them with others who have connections with those at the top.”
Besides, Aluko said, “there is also a plot to recall the 2023 posted officers without paying them over 14 months outstanding allowances, in order to pave the way for the preferred officers.”
“Even more unfortunate that some of these officers are going to be recycled as reposting having served their statutory 1 term before. In fact, one of those pushing for this agenda is currently serving for his second posting after being cross posted to another country for a fresh duty tour.”
“This is the highest level of injustice and we won’t allow it. Many of the new attaches have been left hanging, others have their postings withdrawn and reallocated to close allies of those at the top.”
“We are therefore requesting for an immediate investigation and intervention to ensure due process, fairness, before any new postings are effected,” he said.
Regarding the non-payment of salaries of those at foreign mission, Aluko said information available to them is that since 2024, the officers have been lamenting about the irregular payment of their salaries, which has caused them suffering and untold hardship.
And now, he said, they are raising alarm because of the alleged grand plot to return them back to home without paying their entitlements, and that “the CLO don’t want to wait until that happens before they cry out; and so that is why they are raising the alarm now.”
“I believe many people in the country are following up with the situation of immigration attachés for a while now. In these last three years, immigration officers at foreign missions have the most rated high level of professionalism and service ethics, yet they have suffered untold hardship due to lack of payment of salaries.”
“Let’s make the point clear. We are not asking the immigration service to keep the officers on foreign mission because the very first time they were sent on foreign mission, they know that there is a timeline.”
“If the government pays them their money and asks them to come back tomorrow, they will, and that will be understood as having completed their duty tour. All we are asking however, is for government to pay them their entitlements before returning them home.”
“If the government don’t do so, it will bring a great embarrassment to the service and cause a whole lot of issues for foreign missions, going forward.”
“We also gathered that many of the officers are owing a lot of debt, like house rents, children’s school fees, hospital bills and other service providers. So how can they return home while they have not been paid their outstanding salaries in order to settle their debts,” Aluko stated.
He called on other stakeholders to intervene at this point, “that is the federal ministry of interior, the federal ministry of foreign affairs, the National Security Adviser, the Accountant General, federal ministry of finance and that even the Chief of Staff to the President needs to know of this situation.”
“In all these hardships they are facing, they have continue to demonstrate a high level of professionalism and have not compromised their jobs on any front. This is because there has not been any report of misconduct, extortion or financial embarrassment among the officers that we have ever heard or known.”
“Remember, all the international engagements between Nigeria and other countries either at government level, at corporate level or at individual level, they are the ones facilitating such engagements, and therefore they are not supposed to be rewarded in this way.”
“This is apart from the direct revenue they are generating for the government. In fact, immigration is the highest revenue generating desk in every foreign mission.”
“And this is also apart from how much they are saving Nigerians in terms of cost of issuing passports. Rather than traveling to Nigeria to process passports, they do process it for Nigerians abroad, thereby saving them traveling cost and a whole lot of other logistics,” he added.
The Director stressed that immigration are not the only ones in this foreign mission, as there are other outfits and agencies at foreign missions in different embassies, “but the immigration are the only ones in this quagmire.”
Reacting, the Immigration service through its spokesperson, A.S. Akinlabi, said the matter was administrative and that affected personnel had already been mobilised for deployment.
He urged the affected officers and other stakeholders to remain calm, assuring that “the outstanding payments would be addressed as they are entitled to what they work for.”
Akinlabi stressed the importance of immigration personnel to national security, including counter-terrorism operations, and that “outstanding entitlements of the affected officers will be met before they are recalled from foreign missions.”
