Over 37 Immigration Officers Killed By Boko Haram

Over 37 officers of the Nigerian Immigration Service (NIS), have been killed by the outlawed Boko Haram Islamic Sect, according to David Parradang, Comptroller-General of Immigration (CGI).

He disclosed this during an interactive session with journalists at the Service Headquarters, Sauka, Air Port Road, Abuja.

Apart from the 37 killed, Parradang said several others have been injured.

“We have about 37 Immigration Officers that died as a result of Boko Haram attacks. A lot of them have sustained serious injuries, some were burnt, and with spinal cord broken,” he said.

Speaking further, the Immigration boss said that they have stepped up border security in the wake of the upsurge in cross-border terror attacks into Nigeria, with over 1000 staff being trained for special patrol to fish out illegal aliens entering the country.

He assured that the NIS in collaboration with other security services were putting up practicable measures to ensure effective control of the porous borders that were constantly being exploited by the foreign elements of Boko Haram Islamic Sect to unleash mayhem in and out of the country.

Concerning the closure of Nigeria-Cameroon border, Parradang admitted that manning the large expanse of northern flank of the nation’s international boundary has been problematic with over 1,400 illegal routes.

In comparison, he said that Nigeria has a total of 84 Control Posts in a land border of over 4000 kilometers alone in the north, but that plans were being put in place to improve boarder control.

“We need to secure our borders. We have the desire, we are committed and determined to secure our borders. We know exactly what to do and we are set out in doing it…we have the resources in doing it.

“We need relevant technology to secure our boarder; the technology that are relevant to us and sustainable.

“We have designed a border patrol mechanism and training over 1000 staff dedicated purely on boarder patrolling”.

“I will like to say that we are very cooperative with all the security agencies in the fight against terrorism. Military has recognised that we have that mandate and respect the fact that we are well trained at identifying foreigners,” he noted.