Desist from illegal movement from Nigeria – Perm Sec

Dr Shuaib Belgore, the Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Interior on Tuesday in Abuja advised Nigerians to desist from illegal movement out of the country due to some challenges.

Belgore gave the advice when Mrs Nnenna Akajameli, the National Coordinator SERVICOM, visited him in his office to make formal presentation of SERVICOM Compliance Evaluation Reports (SCER) of Federal Marriage Registries in Nigeria in Abuja,

He expressed concern over the rate at which some Nigerians were moving out of the country to the extent of renouncing their citizenship even through illegal means.

He said that such acts could also lead to avoidable deaths and missing of some citizens as noted across the nation.

“Protecting citizens` rights is part of what we are saddled with;  we handle marriages and we handle citizenship issues; people trying to get citizenship into Nigeria, people who want special immigrant status.

“People who want to work in Nigeria – they need permission from us in areas such as the expatriate quota, resident permit and work permit all that are within the power of the ministry.

“Unfortunately, once in a while some Nigerians want to renounce their citizenship and we don’t want them to do that, except through constitutional rights of such movement, “ he advised.

He, therefore, admonished Nigerians not to use the present circumstances faced by the country as an excuse to move out of the country illegally but through proper manners.

However, receiving the SERVICOM’s SCER reports, Belgore reiterated the ministry`s determination to collaborate with SERVICOM for quality service delivery to Nigerians, ensuring that Nigerians were well served across all the Ministries Departments and Agencies (MDAs).

In her presentation, Mrs Nnenna Akajemeli said that the overall objective of SERVICOM`s SCER was to ensure citizens focus-service delivery in MDAs to identify gaps and  make recommendations to the ministry to improve on those gaps.

“Interaction with customers reveal that the Federal Marriage Registry is not established in all states of the federation and this has caused a lot of inconveniences for the intending couples and those who stand as their witnesses.

“The Ministry of Interior should intensify its efforts to create at least one marriage registry in all the states to ease the problems of intending couples having to travel far to submit print-out of their applications.

“This will create a relief and reduce service delivery gaps, especially in the area of cost of transportation,“ she said.