The Federal Government has deported 828 illegal immigrants in 2024 as part of its intensified efforts to combat irregular migration and enhance national security.
The Minister of Interior, Olubunmi Tunji-Olu, disclosed this at a media parley in Abuja on Tuesday.
Highlighting the government’s achievements, the minister stated, “In the last one year, 137 victims of trafficking were intercepted, and in 2024 alone, 828 foreigners were repatriated by the Nigerian Immigration Service.”
As part of broader reforms, the government implemented measures to modernise border operations and immigration systems.
These include integrating Nigerian passports into the International Civil Aviation Organisation Public Key Directory, allowing seamless verification worldwide, and establishing a centralised Visa Approval Centre in Abuja to streamline visa processing.
To support these initiatives, an 8.3-petabyte data centre—the largest in Nigeria—has been constructed, and a solar-powered infrastructure was introduced to ensure uninterrupted operations.
A command and control centre now provides real-time monitoring of all land and air entry points, boosting surveillance capabilities.
The minister noted that the NIS also cleared a backlog of “200,000 passport applications within three weeks in 2023 and issued 1,836,533 passports in 2024.”
(Punch)
