Nigeria’s major cities are flooded with immigrants, some of who flouted immigration laws and have remained in the country without any checks by the appropriate government authority. Senior Correspondent, ONYEWUCHI OJINNAKA, speaks with a Lagos-based lawyer and consultant on immigration issues, Eddie Onyeka, on immigration laws, their enforcement, among other issues.
It appears immigration laws in Europe and America are not favourable to Nigerians. For instance, Nigerians have been stopped from participating in American visa lottery. In your opinion, what could be the reasons for this?
Like most other laws in the country, immigration laws undergo periodical reviews to reflect current realities. Immigration basically deals with movement of people between nations and from country to country. Countries are always very conscious of the quantity and quality of those that come into their territory and reasons for which they come. For example, where countries have shortage of skilled labour, they tend to relax their laws to encourage qualified people from around the world to migrate, boost and fill the labour shortages that are needed.
On the other hand, where there is a glut of competent people or in a situation where you have economic downturn or recessions, the opportunity becomes limited and they want to tighten the avenues through which people come into their borders. The United States government has tried to give us reasons for their action, but we believe that there might be more to that.
What could have informed the British government to review its skill migrant programmes?
The one for visa lottery is targeted at Nigeria and some other few countries. The United Kingdom immigration laws are in a state of fluidity; they are always reviewing. The review made by the UK is not targeted at Nigerians; it is a review that seems to have global application. There are different platforms before now with which you can migrate to the UK to live and work. But you find out now that such platforms are no longer in existence; they have been removed. For example, we have what is called the Highly Skilled Migrant Programme (HSMP) that enables people with a minimum of certain levels of qualification to apply to live and work in the UK. I am aware that thousands of Nigerians benefited and lawfully migrated to the UK under that platform. You also have adaptation programme for our nurses. There is one for our doctors. Presently, it is extremely difficult for a qualified Nigerian to migrate to the UK by reason of special qualification. Qualifications no longer count as a platform for which you can migrate.
In Nigeria, is there any court or tribunal designated to adjudicate immigration cases?
We do not have. What we have is the general courts as you know them. But countries in Europe, America, Canada, Australia and some other parts of the world have designated specialised courts dedicated to adjudicate cases of those who felt that their rights under various immigration laws for which they applied have not been met. For instance, in Nigeria, if you go to the British High Commission to apply for a visa and the entry clearance officer denies you that visa, you are permitted to take your case on appeal to the immigration tribunal in UK. There is no Nigerian court that can adjudicate the issue of visa denial. So in cases where you have a right of appeal, you take your case to the appropriate immigration tribunal abroad where your matter would be adjudicated. However, such right of appeal has been removed. You can no longer appeal. Students are now asked to go and do what is called administrative review, which is something entirely different. The opportunity that enables you adjudicate your matter before an impartial arbitral authority has been removed.
So as presently constituted, visa officers act more or less with impunity because if their decision cannot be challenged, no matter how perverse, then they become a law unto themselves.
As a lawyer and consultant on immigration issues, what is your take on having special court or tribunal in Nigeria for immigration matters?
There is the need to have specialised court or tribunals for immigration matters in Nigeria now. Our regular courts cannot cope with appeals arising from immigration matters when we review our immigration law. Foreigners who have approached Nigerian embassies abroad and applied for Nigerian visas and are denied can apply to Nigerian immigration tribunal.
In any case, how many people are applying for Nigerian visas and are being denied? We have no record of foreigners in our midst, but you and I know that they are in their millions. You and I know that they get into this country through processes that are not regulated by government. Though we have immigration laws regulating how people come into our country, there is no enforcement. Our borders are totally open, if we indeed have borders at all. So why do you need visa to come into an entity that has no borders? People in Europe and America, having legitimate businesses to do in Nigeria, will normally get Nigerian visa. The rate of denial of Nigerian visa to such people is very low. People abroad who intend to come to Nigeria will easily do that by applying for our visa which we normally will give them or they just walk in through the borders without anybody challenging them.
What is the link between lack of enforcement of our immigration laws and the insurgency pervading the country?
Of course, the link is direct. When you talk about Boko Haram, who are they? I am not a security personnel, but I believe that a greater percentage of them are foreigners and they have no business with our borders. If you do not have immigration officers and security personnel manning our borders, it becomes very obvious that foreign fighters can come into the country easily. If our borders are manned properly, this insurgency will not be at this level that it is today. So there is a direct correlation between the porousness of our borders so to speak and the incidence of insurgency.
What ways do you think our immigration laws can be reviewed to ensure strict enforcement and compliance?
Our immigration laws should deal with circumstances under which foreigners enter our territory. Our territory must be well-defined. The integrity of our territory must be guaranteed. It is only when you fence your property that you determine how people come in. We have to ensure that we man our territory. If we do not, then our law will be on paper only. People come in through the borders, but it does not apply to people around the world because, if you are in Canada trying to come to Nigeria, you do not have to smuggle yourself through the borders. You have to apply for visas. Our African neighbours such as Cameroon, Chad, Niger and others come through the bush. Unfortunately, we do not have any means by which we identify ourselves as Nigerians. You are a Nigerian when you are here with me. Our laws need some fine-tuning in terms of reflecting reciprocity regarding how some nations treat us. In international law, reciprocity is a key component of diplomacy. For example, if you want to go to South Africa, they say you must do yellow fever vaccine, reciprocity demands that we amend our laws to make the same applicable to South Africans coming to Nigeria. If we are not giving them yellow fever vaccine condition, we may give them something else like meningitis vaccine before they come. Our students going to UK now are made to do tuberculosis test, and when they ask you to do tuberculosis test, they are not asking you to go to any specialised laboratory in Nigeria; they have a designated foreign laboratory in Lagos and Port Harcourt. The British coming to Nigeria should be made to do the same test. We may ask them to do flu test. When you do that, nations will begin to respect you.