NIS Nabs 27 Illegal Aliens In Enugu

No fewer than 27 irregu
lar immigrants were on Friday apprehended in Nsukka and Udenu local government areas of Enugu State by the state command  of the Nigeria Immigration Service (NIS).
The arrest followed a raid by a team led by Mr Obetta Asogwa, NIS Deputy Comptroller (Intelligence, Investigations and Enforcement).
The aim of the raid was to identify aliens not living in accordance with extant immigration regulations.
Asogwa said while parading the aliens from Niger Republic, that the raid was part of NIS statutory duties said that the NIS would also raid other parts of the state later.
“It has become imperative to carry out this raid following the security challenges we found ourselves in. “One of the desires of the current Comptroller-General of Immigration is to have a robust internal monitoring and control of foreigners living in our midst,” he said.
Asogwa claimed that many irregular immigrants were being used as cheap labour by some influential individuals.
“The strategy put in place by the comptroller-general is designed in a manner that people may not know that we are working. “We have immigration attachés in all the774 local government areas of the federation to maintain robust immigration presence in rural areas,” Asogwa said.
The official, however, said that the command did not have the fund to repatriate all the arrested persons.
He said that only 16 out of the 27 irregular immigrants would be immediately sent back to their country adding that the state command borrowed the vehicle used for the raid from Anambra State Command of the NIS.
Asogwa appealed to the Enugu State Government to assist the command with operational vehicles in order to discharge its functions effectively.
The Chief Security Officer of the Nsukka Local Government, Mr Emmanuel Ugwuja, said that the people of the area were satisfied with the raid.
Ugwuja said that such foreigners caused security breaches.
“All of them are supposed to be taken back to their country; if not, they will continue to cause problems here,” Ugwuja said.