Business
FG Inaugurates 28 Residence Permit Issuing Offices
The Federal
Government has inaugurated 28 Combined Expatriate Residence Permit and Aliens Card (CERPAC) production centres to enhance the operations of the Nigeria Immigration Service (NIS).
Minister of Interior, Lt.-Gen. Abdulrahman Dambazau (rtd), who inaugurated the Abuja centre and 28 operational vehicles for the respective centres in the states recently in Abuja, called for efficient service delivery.
He said that with the opening of the 28 production centres, CERPAC offices are now in all the states of the federation except Yobe and Borno due to security challenges.
He said that the 28 new offices would compliment the existing eight on ground located in Lagos, Abuja, Kaduna, Bauchi, Owerri, Ibadan, Benin and Makurdi.
Dambazau explained that opening of more CERPAC production centres was to ensure adequate monitoring of foreigners and also to create enabling environment for prospective foreign investors.
“It is in furtherance of our commitment to effective and efficient service delivery with a view to creating the enabling environment for attracting Foreign Direct Investments (FDI) with the attendant benefits,
“It is also to actualise our dream of making CERPAC facilities more accessible for easy assessment for our stakeholders whose interest we need to protect,’’ he said.
The minister said that the project, sponsored by Continental Transfer Technique Limited (CONTEC) would help fast track NIS operations in the respective states.
The Tide source reports that CONTEC Ltd is the company engaged by the NIS to produce CERPAC.
Dambazau stressed the need for adequate surveillance and monitoring of the country’s borders using hi-tech facilities.
Earlier, the Comptroller-General of the NIS, Muhammad Babandede, said that the new production centres were opened to bring the operations of the NIS to the grass root.
He stressed the need for personnel posted to the centres to be professional, accountable and ensure efficient service delivery in line with international best practice.
In her remarks, Acting Managing Director of CONTEC, Ms Farida Ali, pledged that the company would continue to partner with the NIS to ensure efficient service delivery.