The Nigeria Immigration Service (NIS) says all its officers will undergo a drug test to ensure that they handle weapons properly.
Muhammad Babandede, NIS comptroller-general, was quoted as saying this in a statement issued by Sunday James, the service’ spokesman, on Saturday.
Babandede said any officer found wanting would be rehabilitated by the service. “We cannot afford to be careless with weapons, hence, all officers of the service will undergo drug test beginning with me,” he said.
“We shall not dismiss anyone at first discovery but we would try to rehabilitate. However, if the fellow continued unrepentant, administrative procedures will be followed and appropriate sanctions applied.”
Also, the service graduated 509 officers of the third conversion and upgrading course at the immigration training school, Kano.
Speaking at the event, Babandede asked the officers to cherish their new ranks by aligning with the commitment and dedication to the duty of the superintendent cadre.
According to him, there is a need for the officers to put what they learnt into action, and that the service has invested so much into training and capacity development.
He encouraged them to maximise the knowledge of ICT gained to uplift the standard of the service among other sister agencies by complementing each other whenever the need arises.
The comptroller-general said the visa-on-arrival policy is a huge opportunity for Africans that were coming into the country for legitimate businesses.
Babandede added that it is a means of integration and “cementing African brotherhood and breaking the barriers of free movement among Africans”.