Nigeria registers over 2,100 immigrants in two months

The Nigerian government said it has registered 2,100 immigrants in one of its centres set up to document foreigners living in the country.

The registration is part of a window promulgated by the federal government to enable all undocumented foreign nationals to present themselves for registration.

A government statement said more than seven other centres are also operating across the country to capture details of all resident foreigners.

The statement signed by the spokesperson of the Nigerian Immigration Service (NIS), Sunday James, said the exercise “is part of the Service’s statutory responsibilities prescribed by the Immigration Regulation 2017”.

The registration, according to the statement, “is yielding results as over 2,100 migrants have been registered at the NIS Headquarters alone, while registration centres at Lagos, Rivers, Delta, Ogun, Ekiti, Kwara, Cross River, and others are steadily following in a bid to achieve a nation-wide registration exercise.”

“The CGI hereby calls on all migrants staying beyond 90 days in Nigeria, whether regular or otherwise (including those without proper documents) to take advantage of the 6-months amnesty period given by the President which lasts between 12th July,2019 to 11th January,2020 and register at the nearest Migrant e-Registration centres in their places of residence.”

The Immigration Service said the biometric registration will be a continuous process and it urged all concerned foreigners to key in to it.

The spokesperson also quoted Section 22 (1 & 2) of the Immigration Regulation 2017 “which empowers the Service to maintain a register of all immigrants and also empowers the Comptroller General to keep in the registry, information and particulars of an Immigrant as he may time to time direct”.