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Fashola calls for compensatory protection of local economies

Tuesday, 16 September 2008

Lagos State Governor, Mr Babatunde Fashola (SAN) on Monday called for a re-examination of the possibility of whether or not an alien can work in another country without any regulation and without permits. He said aliens are doing business in so many States of Nigeria today, especially in the public transportation sector and particularly motorcycle business.

Governor Fashola who spoke at the Lagos House Ikeja while hosting the Comptroller General of the Immigration Service, Mr Chukwurah Udeh, added that while the state and federal governments welcome investments, there must be compensatory protection of local economies in certain areas especially where locals can compete.

According to Governor Fashola, even though treaties and bi- lateral obligations on freedom of movement and passage exist in the West African sub region, there are doubts of whether such protocols extend to unregulated access to work within the territory of one nation on the other.

The Governor said: “therefore without shutting down entry, one wants to ensure that only those with permits can even access the business”.

He urged the immigration authorities to also be mindful of the internal security risks that are involved as many untoward things happen under the guise of running transportation.

He also called for a greater collaboration between the Police and the Immigrations Service in order to ensure a seamless mode of sharing information that is useful for maintenance of security takes precedence.

Governor Fashola also called for a reorientation of all Immigration officers especially those at the entry points into the country on the need to be friendly in their disposition to visitors.

He emphasized that the Service should scout for officers with naturally friendly dispositions and deploy such officers to the nation’s entry points, so that they can encourage visitors to repeat their visits with its attendant economic benefits.

He added that in these days of Public Private Partnership (PPP), the Immigration service has a very important role to play in ensuring that a friendly environment is created for visitors without compromising their job.

The Governor reiterated that Nigerians are naturally hospitable and warm people who should economic benefits from people who visit the country to second people who are naturally very friendly to the front desks at the various entry points.

Earlier, the Comptroller General of the Immigration Service, Mr Chukwurah Udeh (OFR) said he was in Lagos as part of his visit to formations under his command and commended the Governor for the hardwork which he is deploying into changing the face of the State.

He informed that the Immigrations intends register all aliens in the country and has got 2000 Direct Data Capture Machine (DDCM) from the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to facilitate the process.

The Comptroller General added that the Service intends to use biometric registration for all aliens and give them registration cards that have biometric similarities with Nigeria’s international Passport.

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