NIS repatriates 101 irregular migrants in Lagos.

The Lagos State Command of the Nigeria Immigration, NIS has arrested 101 irregular migrants, in Lekki and Ajah areas of the state. Preliminary investigations showed that the irregular migrants had exceeded the the 90 days stipulated period of visit by the Economic Community of West Africa States, ECOWAS. Parading the suspects among were; Nigeriens, Chaldians, Ghanians , Beninnoise and and Togolese, yesterday, shortly before they were repatriated , Comptroller of Immigration, in-charge of the command, Mrs Clara Okogie, explained that the arrest was aimed at reducing the influx of illegal and irregular migrants in the state . She added that the areas were raided following intelligence report that foreigners were constituting nuisance and security threat in the community. She said : ” Security as well as effective policing of irregular migrants in Lagos state is a collective responsibility and members of the public are enjoined to play their roles by providing useful information to the Service”. On his part, spokesperson for the command, Jide Ogungbe a Deputy Superintendent of Immigration explained that “ they were on ECOWAS visit and ECOWAS protocol allows people from member states to come to Nigeria or any of the countries for a period of 90 days. But these ones over stayed their welcome and did not come to regularise themselves. They are irregular migrants because they have gone against the provision of the ECOWAS protocol”. Ogungbe attributed the success of the raid to effective intelligence as well as what he described as robust relationship between the command and the Lagos State Police Command which released its men as back up during the raid. We came to Nigeria in search of greener pasture But the irregular migrants who were discovered to have begun menial jobs, said they came to Nigeria in search of greener pasture . One of them who simply gave his name as Muchanu , said “ I am from Chad. I came to Nigeria to work because some of my brothers who are here said we could get menial jobs. When I arrived , I started fetching water for people. I graduated to repairing shoes . I was just planning to start selling provision when they raided our place and got us arrested”. Most of them said they were night guards , food vendors and petty traders, adding that they usually sent money to their families back home, at the end of every month and begged to be allowed to stay. Others however boasted if repatriated, they would return back to Nigeria after processing their documents.