The Federal Government is to deploy more personnel, border patrol vehicles and technological gadgets to boost security at the nation’s porous borders in line with international best practices.
The Minister of Interior, retired Lt.-Gen. Abdulrahman Dambazau disclosed this on Saturday at the combined Passing out Parade of 456 border patrol corps at the Immigration Training School, Kano.
He said that the newly graduated border patrol corps, officers and drivers from the training school would be immediately deployed to strategic border posts to beef up security in the country.
“What we are doing now is to resuscitate the border patrol, this informed this training that they have just completed.
“The next step is to ensure to ensure we revive the aircraft and other equipment because these things cannot be done manually we need technology to do that,” he said.
He therefore charged the personnel to be diligent and professional in the discharge of their duties.
“I congratulate Officers and Men of the Service who have undergone this training and implore you to use the experience acquired to better your performance in service delivery,
“You must ensure effective and efficient service delivery to secure our nation’s borders, especially in the face of the daunting security challenges,” he said.
The minister who also inaugurated 160 border patrol vehicles said that the vehicles would be deployed to various border posts to ensure better surveillance and curtail the activities of terrorist and illegal migrants.
He said that the brand new operational vehicles, connected with state of the art technological gadgets will ensure effective communication and monitoring.
Dambazau reiterated the commitment of the Federal Government to the training and re-training of officers and men of the NIS and other security agencies in the country.
Earlier, the Comptroller-General of the NIS, Muhammad Babandede said that the NIS was committed to putting a total stop to the movement of illegal immigrants into the country.
He said that the NIS would continue to collaborate with relevant international stakeholders such as the European Union (EU), GIZ and International Organisation for Migration (IOM) for the training and management of the nation’s borders.
A total of 50 Sector Commanders, 300 Border Patrol Corps, 56 Rapid Response Squad and 50 Immigration Drivers participated in the intensive capacity training.