The Controller General of Nigeria Immigration Service (NIS), Mr. David S Parradang, has disclosed that Boko Haram has killed eight officers and men since the service joined forces with the Joint Task Force (JTF) to wage war against the Islamist insurgent group.
The Immigration boss, who made the disclosure during a two-day programme to mark the 2014 Comptroller General’s Annual Conference and Stakeholders Interactive Forum in commemoration of the 50th anniversary of the service in Abuja yesterday, further revealed that 1427 immigration officers and men are currently part of the JTF.
According to him, “The NIS’ operatives have been mobilised on several occasions to perform ad-hoc security functions on the platform of JTF in Maiduguri since July, 2011. A total of 1427 officers men, including the 230 currently, have so far participated in the JTF while the Service lost eight of them due to incessant attacks by the Boko Haram. “A lot of buildings, vehicles, radio communication gadgets have also been destroyed in the process. The NIS had since requested the esteemed office of the National Security
Adviser (NSA) for possible intervention.”
Enumerating the challenges facing the service, Paradang lamented that immigration is facing insufficient manpower and appealed to the Federal Government to approve the recruitment of 5000 Nigerians annually for the next five years to beef up the current capacity of 22,321officers and men.
