Federal Government has deported over 16,000 foreigners in connection with one criminal and terrorist offence or the other.
This is coming on the heels of the confirmation Sunday by the Zamfara State Police Command that about 10 persons were killed at the weekend by unknown gunmen during a raid on two neighbouring villages in the state.
While fielding questions from journalists in Abuja at the weekend, on the efforts to control our porous borders by the Nigerian Immigration Service (NIS), the Minister of Interior, Comrade Abba Moro said the success was achieved through the strenghtening of operational mechanism of the NIS and cooperation with other security agencies.
He said more efforts were being made to improve on the performance of the immigration service with a view to effectively screen and identify criminally-minded aliens that are willing tools in the hands of terrorists.
He noted that foreigners had exploited certain aspects of ECOWAS protocol that guarantees freedom of movement of people to penetrate the Nigerian borders.
Moro said: “Our major challenge is the presence of foreigners in our means who exploit the provisions of ECOWAS protocol providing free movement of people within member countries.
“The presence in our situation of suicide bombings and bomb blast attacks in our institutions made it imperative to take certain measures to forstall the contrived occurrence of these activities”.
“The NIS that is charged with the responsibility of containing our boarders will rise up to the occasion, set up the necessary machinery to identify, to screen and to profile aliens that are in the country with the view to identify those aliens that are criminally minded, those that are inimical to the establishment of the country.”
“In the process, about 16000 of such aliens have been repatriated as at the time that I am talking to you because efforts put in place to control our boarders”, he disclosed.
The minister also promised that with all the measures in place, Nigeria would enjoy a more stable and secure society in 2013.
“Given the efforts of the government compare to the consequences of the actions of the insurgents, given the determination of the government to acquire and procure the needed equipment and machinery to combat the sectarian crises we have in ours hands, I look at yhe 2013 with hope and with support of all Nigerians will enjoy better security,” he said.
He explained that the motive for the attack on the two villages, Makera and Usu, was not known, it said.
It was also unclear whether militant Islamist sect Boko Haram or a criminal gang were behind it.
“There was an attack in these villages in Zamfara and people were killed. I think the number is around 10,” Zamfara State police spokesman, Hassan Usman Talba, said on phone from the scene.
He said the prime suspects were gangs of Fulani herdsman but that police were still investigating.
The Fulani’s semi-nomadic, cattle-herding way of life has led to decades of conflict with farming communities across central and northern Nigeria that often erupts into violence.
The focus of Nigeria’s Islamist insurgency has been north-eastern Borno State and surrounding areas, but a military crackdown this year has pushed it into several states further south and west, including Zamfara.
Analysts say the insurgency has also brought a breakdown of law and order across the North, creating opportunities for armed gangs and ethnic militias with scores to settle.
Islamist militancy and associated insecurity are the biggest threats to stability in Africa’s main oil exporter.
Boko Haram, which is loosely based on the Afghan Taliban, killed hundreds last year in a campaign to impose Sharia or Islamic law.
