The Nigeria Immigration Service (NIS) on Thursday said it has deployed adequate personnel to man all the orthodox and illegal routes across Katsina State and environs through which foreigners mostly infiltrate into the country.
This is due to the crisis in the Niger Republic as a result of the recent coup d’etat which in effect made ECOWAS put sanctions on the country such as border closure.
The NIS Comptroller in charge of the Jibia Special Border Command, Katsina State, Mustapha Sani, disclosed this in a joint celebration with the Katsina State Command of the NIS to commemorate the service at 60.
He explained that the Command received signals from the headquarters that all borders must remain closed. He announced that the Command has already enforced the law, stating that officers and men of the Command are already in patrol.
He however advised Nigerians not to travel to Niger Republic for now until the embargo is lifted, saying that only Nigerians that are returning home were allowed to cross the border.
“Katsina State shares its vast opened land border with the Niger Republic. There is no natural barrier.
“Despite the fact that we are divided by colonial masters, we share certain things in common like religion and culture, and that doesn’t guarantee them to enter Nigeria without valid documents.
“We have already put our officers on alert and we have already deployed some to go and man the orthodox routes through which some of the foreigners use to enter into Nigeria and from what we have on the ground, we know it will be impossible for them to enter into Nigeria.
“We have already stationed our officers at strategic places for stop and search as usual.
“Nigerians should stay at home and not attempt to go to the Niger Republic until the embargo is lifted. And we are determined to return any Nigerien we catch who is planning to come to this country,” he added.
In his remarks, the Comptroller in charge of the Katsina Command of the NIS, Muhammad Adamu, said tremendous achievements have been recorded by the Command in border management in terms of patrolling the irregular and porous land borders.

He seized the moment to thank the Acting Comptroller General of the Service, the executive governor of Katsina State, Malam Dikko Radda, the emirs of Katsina and Daura, and the people of the State for their timely support.
“So we are here to jointly celebrate and enlighten people about what we have been doing especially in Katsina State. We will put more effort to record much bigger achievements,” he added.
In the meantime, the Jibia Special Border Command of the NIS and the Katsina State Command of the NIS have carried out sensitisation campaign at Batagarawa Local Government Area of the State to enlighten the residents on the activities of the Service both at the state and the national level.