By Ishaya Ibrahim
Acting News Editor, Lagos
There are jitters in the ranks in the Nigerian Immigration Service (NIS) as holders of fake qualifications have been asked to retire before April 15 or face a double whammy of dismissal and prosecution.
Interior Minister, Abdulrahman Dambazau, gave the directive sequel to the certificates and credentials verification in 2014 which discovered that 60 per cent of employees possess fake certificates.
The report of that screening was shelved by former Interior Minister, Abba Moro, allegedly because many of his cronies, including his special adviser on immigration matters (name withheld), hold “Toronto degrees”, an Immigration source told TheNiche.
Dambazau steps in
Last week, however, the NIS issued a fresh circular advising officers with dubious certificates to retire on their own or face dismissal and prosecution.
The circular, dated April 1, was signed by Assistant Comptroller General, Raymond Jaja, on behalf of Comptroller General, Martin Abeshi.
It said: “[Dambazau] has directed that officers/men holding and parading fake certificates purported to have been issued by tertiary institutions be given a soft landing to retire from service honourably between now and April 15, 2016.
“And that any officer whose certificates are eventually certified to have been issued outside the tertiary institutions so claimed would not only face dismissal from service, but also be prosecuted in line with the provisions of chapter 030402(a) of the Public Service.”
The NIS had said in a notice to all zonal commands on March 29 that a team of four officers would visit each command from April 4 to verify the certificates and credentials of all officers (senior) and men (junior).
All employees were asked to be physically present as documents would not be accepted through proxies.
Anxiety and confusion best described the disposition of officers at zonal commands nationwide where the exercise took place between Monday, April 4 and Friday, April 8.
The insistence that officers be physically present compelled the attendance of those who were used to doing documentation by proxy.
Businesses such as photocopying of documents, passport photography, and food selling boomed when TheNiche visited the zonal command in Alagbon Close, Ikoyi, Lagos during the week.
Most officers wore long faces. One told TheNiche jokingly, “this is a survival race, heads will roll and we do not know who will be involved.”
When contacted for comment, NIS Public Relations Officer, Ekpedeme King, a deputy comptroller, feigned ignorance of the verification, saying, “I have not seen that.”
Forgery galore
Nigeria’s paramilitary bodies, including the NIS, do not classify officers with Higher National Diplomas (HNDs) as graduates. The careers of those in this category are stunted, and some spend 20 years as inspectors and retire in the rank.
The frustration pushes many to procure fake certificates to move ahead in the job.
In the Nigeria Prisons Service (NPS), about 300 officers with HNDs were found to have submitted fake degree certificates to become superintendents. The authorities reverted them to their former ranks.
The situation is worse in Immigration.
“One of them became a graduate in 2005 but had GCE (General Certificate of Education) in 2007. She cannot speak good English. She was employed with a fake certificate.
“One at Tin Can Island Port claimed she had a Master’s degree in 1985 from an Italian university. But she sat for GCE in 2005,” the source said.
TheNiche could not verify her name or her degree from the website of the university as the website is in Italian and a telephone call was answered by a lady who spoke in Italian.
The officer (named withheld), an assistant comptroller, was contacted by our reporter. But rather than respond to the allegation, she abused him with unprintable curses.
It was learnt that some of the officers gained admission into the university they claimed they attended with three GCE or West African Examination Council (WAEC) subjects – instead of the statutory minimum five.
Our findings also showed several cases of officers claiming states where they do not hail from in order to secure both employment and promotion.
Big wigs pulling the strings
Godfatherism is crippling the NIS, said sources who spoke anonymously because they are not authorised to speak to the media.
“If you tell a junior officer to do this, he won’t do it because he believes he has a godfather. If you try to discipline, you get calls from senators,” a source lamented.
TheNiche had on September 7, 2014 reported discontent among officers who complained of favouritism for Idomas, the tribesmen of Moro.
“Go to the Ministry of Interior and you will think you are in an Idoma village.
“This is the result of so many middle aged Idoma villagers employed by Moro and dumped in the ministry doing nothing at the expense of younger and able-bodied Nigerians looking for work,” a source alleged at the time.
“Junior officers from his tribe were not only promoted over their superiors but were posted to choice stations in all the services.
“He promoted a comptroller of fire to comptroller general. The only qualification the man had was that he was Idoma.”
Another source alleged that a comptroller is an attache at the Nigerian high commission in London against the rule.
“Only officers below the rank of assistant comptroller go for such postings. Some of them have been there for over five years instead of the maximum duration of four years. The reason is the estacode (allowances paid to them in dollars).
“In the last promotion exercise, Moro only promoted people on foreign postings. He said because they were on national assignment. People who are paid in dollars!”
Abandoned to corrupt conduct
Infrastructure in the NIS is zero, the source said, citing Lagos State Command with only one functional vehicle.
“We don’t have barracks. We don’t have office accommodation. Many of our officers sit under the tree. We provide our generators to power offices. We don’t have arms.”
He disclosed that the landed properties of the NIS have been converted to private estates.
“The Rivers State government gave land to Prisons, Immigration, and Customs. Other services have utilised their own. But Immigration failed to use its own.
“And after lying waste for many years, the Rivers State government reclaimed it and used it for the accommodation of its sanitation authority.”
The source recounted that Ibeju Lekki Council in Lagos donated a land to Immigration two years ago, but “this land can no longer be accounted for.”
He added: “When people are posted, they don’t go because money will change hands. Some officers have served for 30 years and they are still in Lagos.
“You post somebody out of passport office, in less than one month, he or she is back.”