The Nigeria Immigration Service (NIS) has dismissed eight of its personnel while 18 others have been sanctioned for various offences ranging from indiscipline to employment racketeering and other forms of corrupt practices.
This is as a total of 100 of the organisation’s officers and men hitherto attached to the Murtala Muhammed International Airport (MMIA) in Lagos have been redeployed to other units and departments, pending the determination of a recent allegation of bribery against them by a traveller.
The disclosure is contained in a statement issued on Friday morning and signed by Kenneth Kure, a Chief Superintendent of Immigration at the Public Relations Unit of the NIS, on behalf of the Comptroller General, Isah Idris.
According to the statement, the decision was taken following the approval granted by the Civil Defence, Correctional, Fire and Immigration Services Board (CDCFIB), which reportedly noted that “the conducts of the personnel have remained grossly unbecoming and unacceptable as members of the Service.”
According to the statement, the dismissal of the eight concerned officers followed the due process and laid down procedures backed by the law governing the agency.
It said a total of 35 personnel had earlier been presented before both the Senior Disciplinary Committee (SDC) and Orderly Room Trial (ORT) processes “to ascertain their level of culpability in the various allegations of offences against discipline ranging from employment racketeering, sharp practices, dishonest conducts, absent from duty without official leave (AWOL) among others, as preferred against them.”
“After exhaustive deliberations by the committees, eight personnel comprising one Chief Superintendent of Immigration (CSI), two Deputy Superintendents of Immigration (DSI), two Assistant Superintendents of Immigration II (ASI2) and three rank and file were summarily dismissed from the Service.
“Furthermore, one other Chief Superintendent of Immigration was ordered to proceed on compulsory retirement while nine other personnel were demoted in rank. They include one Assistant Superintendent of Immigration II (ASI2) who has been demoted to the rank of Inspector of Immigration, two Inspectors who have been reduced in rank to Assistant Inspectors and six (6) other junior personnel who have been ordered to lose their current ranks.
“Meanwhile, nine other personnel comprising one Assistant Superintendent of Immigration II (ASI2) and eight (8) junior personnel were issued warning letters just as six personnel were discharged and acquitted from all the allegations brought against them,” the statement read.
Meanwhile, the agency said a total of 100 of its officers who were working at the MMIA in Lagos until the announcement this morning, have been posted out of the airport with immediate effect.
The statement added that an undisclosed number of some of the affected officers have also been ordered to face disciplinary procedures “to ascertain their level of involvement in some unprofessional conducts and practices reported at the airport recently.”
