GENEVA, Switzerland, April 12, 2016/APO (African Press Organization)/ —
Japan has allocated USD 910,000 to IOM to support the Government of Nigeria in enhancing its migration management and border control capacity. The financial support comes from Japan’s 2015 Supplementary Budget.
The one-year project, which will run through February 2017, is designed to combat terrorism and other transnational crimes by enhancing land border controls through the installation of IOM’s Migrant Information and Data Analysis System (MIDAS) at four Nigerian border crossing points.
Nigeria faces security threats from terrorists and international organized crime groups engaged in smuggling and trafficking. While airport controls provide some measure of security, significant gaps exist at land borders.
IOM will use the Japanese funding to continue to work with the Nigerian Immigration Service (NIS) to ensure that the country’s land borders are better managed and that legitimate travel is facilitated. It will allow the NIS to check travellers against national and international watch-lists, as well as identify and register foreign nationals.
IOM Nigeria Chief of Mission Enira Krdzalic said: “IOM has been supporting the activities of NIS in border management and control through an innovative and results-based strategy. With this funding, we will expand MIDAS to four land border crossing points not previously covered, bringing the total to nine, thereby contributing to reducing the incidence of irregular migration to and from Nigeria.”
