The Nigeria Immigration Service, on Monday, flagged off the 2025 Anti-Smuggling of Migrants Week, warning that organised criminal networks are expanding their operations through cyberspace and dangerous transit routes, exposing migrants to trafficking, extortion, sexual exploitation, violence and death.
The Comptroller-General of Immigration, Kemi Nandap, delivered the address through the Deputy Comptroller-General (Works and Logistics), Ada Umanah, at the NIS Headquarters, Abuja.
She said the service is renewing its anti-smuggling campaign, focusing on awareness, solidarity and improved commitment to tackling the crime of migrant smuggling.
According to a statement signed by the Service Public Relations Officer, Akinsola Akinlabi, Nandap said the week-long activities would build up to the International Migrants Day.
She stressed that the theme, “Smuggling of migrants: Emerging trends, realities and national response,” mirrored both Nigeria’s pressing security concerns and global realities.
The immigration chief said the service was deliberate about the theme because it challenges the NIS to confront the changing dynamics of irregular migration and intensify action against the networks that prey on vulnerable persons “in search of hope.”
“With great pleasure, I welcome you all to this year’s anti-smoking campaign, which has been dedicated to creating awareness, building solidarity and renewed commitment to the global fight against the criminal acts of smuggling of migrants.
“Today, as we begin these activities that will culminate in the celebration of International Day of migrants, we reflect on the realities of migration, its promises, opportunities, challenges, and the collective mandates we share in safeguarding the dignity and rights of all migrants.
“This year’s theme, smuggling of migrants, emerging trends, realities and national response speaks directly to the pressing issues confronting our nation, Nigeria, the region as well as the world at large,” she stated.
Nandap said the rise in organised smuggling networks, combined with evolving online tactics and changing routes, had created “new layers of dangers,” particularly at desert crossing points where migrants face “unimaginable risks” including trafficking and death.
While insisting the NIS was not discouraging migration, Nandap argued that the agency was pushing “safe, regular and orderly” movement and had adopted what she described as a multi-pronged approach built on prevention, enforcement and international cooperation.
“The Nigerian Immigration Service is intentional about the choice of the field, because it challenges the NIS.
“It challenges us, not only to acknowledge the dynamics of irregular migration, but also to deepen our resolve in combating the criminal network activities that exploit the vulnerable individuals who are in search of hope.
“The rise in organised migrant smuggling networks, coupled with the evolving trends of smuggling activities in cyberspace, has created new layers of dangers for the migrants, leading to unimaginable risks of human trafficking, extortion, sexual exploitation, violence and death,” she stated.
Nandap clarified that “The NIS is not saying not to migrate. NIS is saying, let migration be safe, let migration be regular, let migration be orderly.”
On prevention, she said the service had intensified public education on the dangers of irregular migration and what she called the “deceptive tactics” used by smugglers, adding that NIS had expanded collaboration with agencies, civil society groups, faith-based organisations, market and transport unions, and schools to promote legal pathways.
She also disclosed that the awareness drive was being targeted at young Nigerians, with outreach at National Youth Service Corps orientation camps.
According to her, “this year alone,” more than 579,000 corps members had been sensitised nationwide, while border communities across the country were also reached through the service’s annual sensitisation programme.
On the enforcement side, she said officers were deployed across formations to identify, investigate and prosecute individuals and criminal networks involved in migrant smuggling, adding that sanctions under the law were “huge” and designed to hold perpetrators accountable.
Nandap also linked the NIS response to a broader technology and policy push under the Ministry of Interior, remembering the minister, Dr Olubunmi Tunji-Ojo, and outlining systems deployed to strengthen border control.
She listed enhanced surveillance across land, sea and air borders, as well as platforms and tools she said were supporting migration management and passenger screening.
“We have enhanced surveillance along our land, sea and air borders, deploying technology driven solutions such as the establishment of a cutting edge command and control center that mirrors all operational activities of the service, the migration information and data analysis system, Midas, advanced passenger information systems, APS, passenger name records, PNR, e-gates at our international airports, as well as the Huawei powered e border solutions deployed at over 144 border locations across the country.
“Just last week, I had a retired senior official who came in into my office. He saw a monitor and asked ‘what is this for?’ I said, this is for monitoring our systems deployed. He said ‘Wow,’ he thought we were just talking. Now he has seen. He will go and tell others that it is true,” she explained.
She stressed that the transnational nature of migrant smuggling made international cooperation critical, listing partnerships with ECOWAS, the African Union, the International Organisation for Migration, the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime and other global actors.
According to her, the collaborations support capacity building, data exchange, joint investigations and safe return programmes through bilateral agreements, especially with transit and destination countries, while strengthening early warning, repatriation and cross-border law enforcement.
As the campaign opened, Nandap said the service had recommitted itself to strengthening border security and intelligence, dismantling smuggling networks, protecting migrants, especially women and children, deepening partnerships locally and internationally, and upholding the human rights and dignity of migrants “irrespective of status.”
She added that the fight was not for the government alone, arguing that families and communities must also play a role in preventing trafficking and smuggling.
Nandap thanked development partners and the international community for technical support and capacity-building interventions, saying the NIS intended to sustain partnerships aimed at promoting “safe, orderly and regular migration.”
