Comptroller General of Immigration (CGI), Kemi Nandap, has ordered the immediate execution of President Bola Tinubu’s directive that Nigeria’s borders with Niger Republic should be re-opened.
Service’s spokesman, Kenneth Kure, who made the announcement, said following the directive from the Federal Government of Nigeria to reopen borders between Nigeria and Niger Republic, the Comptroller General has issued a directive to all comptrollers stationed at states and border commands along the Nigeria-Niger Republic border, to promptly ensure strict compliance and lift restrictions on human movements.
MEANWHILE, experts have differed on the move to reopen the gateways. Some believed that the decision could give room for the importation of weapons into the West African sub-region from unstable territories like Libya. Retired Deputy Inspector General of Police, Taiwo Lakanu, said it was a good consideration to reopen the borders.
‘It’s my subjective view that the sovereignty of each state must be respected, while dissuaded and persuasive discussions should be employed rather than lording it over equally sovereign nations,” he said.
Ex-Director of the Department of State Services (DSS), Dennis Amachree, said ECOWAS must have considered that Niger as a sovereign nation, should be responsible for its internal affairs, without external interference.
But the National Coordinator of Human Rights Writers Association of Nigeria (HURIWA), Emmanuel Onwubiko, held that the move would encourage free flow