Immigration officers found guilty of extortion, corruption or engaging in any form of unauthorised duty would face the wrath of the law. Public Relations Officer of the Immigration Service, Seme Border Command, Mr. Sowunmi Olaniyi stated this while reacting to allegations that immigration officers at the Seme border engaged in extortion ranging from N500 to N2,000 from illegal immigrants to allow them into the country illegally.

According  to a community leader at Seme border town, who preferred anonymity, the act was done with the active connivance of Port Health officials and has resulted in situations where persons without ECOWAS passport and genuine businesses come into the country.

Our source listed three groups of immigration officers who he said have established their presence at Seme border. The group according to him are comptroller unit at Gbaji, monitoring unit and the AIG unit from Alagbon stationed also at Gbaji.

He accused the groups of extorting money from business communities and illegal immigrants before allowing them come into the country.

Unofficial records revealed that, Nigeriens, top the list of illegal immigrants, seconded by Malians, while Togolese and Ghanaian came third respectively.

The Tide investigations in the Republic of Benin confirmed that over 2,000 illegal immigrants enter into Nigeria on a daily basis, through Cotonou and Porto Novo.

In his reaction, Olaniyi stated that the comptroller in charge of Seme Border Command, Mr. Ogbu J.A.E. has been drafting men of the command to areas where policing is relevant and that his office is not aware of the aforementioned group of officers alleged to have been collecting money from illegal immigrants but that the comptroller oversees the activities of the border town of Seme and its environ.

He added that the office of the comptroller is not aware of those groups and their activities but that the immigration officer drafted to the border were there to perform their legitimate functions. He concluded that any officer performing any form of illegality was doing that on his own and that the command will deal decisively with any officer caught in any form of unlawful act.

He however said, if school children on courtesy visit to Contonu without valid documents were not allowed entry, then talkless of illegal immigrants coming into Nigeria, adding that some time ago the UNICEF came for confirmation of immigrant trooping into the camp but records proved that they did not pass through Seme border but were in Nigeria before the Libyan crisis.

But a check with some of the security agencies at the border showed that Olaniyi’s claim may not be true as officers operating at the border say that the entry of illegal immigrant recently through the border town of Seme was alarming.

Nkpemenyie Mcdominic, Lagos