The Nigeria Immigration Service, NIS, has blamed increased cases of criminal activities across the country on illegal immigrants.
Kwara State Comptroller of NIS, Aminu Shamsuddin, stated this during an interactive session with journalists on Tuesday, at the 60th anniversary celebration of the Service.
According to him: “From our statistics, I can tell you that most of the criminal activities perpetrated in Nigeria are masterminded and carried out by illegal immigrants who forced their ways into the country.
“It is a challenge we are hoping to overcome because of the porosity of our borders with some of our neighbouring countries.“
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The Comptroller told journalists that the country was surrounded by francophone countries, whose nationals desperately love to stay in Nigeria despite the obvious language barrier.
“These people think Nigeria is a Paradise and truly, we are the mother of Africa. They always struggle to be part of us and are ready to spend huge sum of money to obtain Nigeria passport.
“They also get married to Nigerians in their bid to be Nigerians, which is why we painstakingly check every immigrant. We have undergone training and can easily ascertain if someone is a Nigerian or not,” he said.
