The Nigerian Immigration Service (NIS) has concluded plans to establish a multilingual training
institute for migration and border management in affiliation with some Nigerian Universities at its facility in Tuga, Kebbi State.
According to the Comptroller-General of the Nigerian Immigration, Muhammad Babandede, who disclosed this when he paid a courtesy call on the Executive Secretary of the National Universities Commission (NUC), Professor Abubakar Rasheed at his office, the institute which would be degree awarding would lay more emphasis on postgraduate studies and research and would equip its officers and men with modern skills and knowledge on border security and migration in order to tackle the challenges of illegal migration through the West African Sub-region to parts of the world.
He said that the institute would boost efforts to curb illegal and irregular migration and would be in the overall interest of all countries, in the Sub-region noting that as a leading country, Nigeria was already in touch with other countries within and outside Africa on the need to collaborate on addressing illegal migration, which, he said, was posing a global security threat.
He informed the Executive Secretary that NIS had been producing some border commanders and men dedicated to manning the borders. He solicited for the guidance of the NUC in actualising the establishment of the Tuga institute.
In his reaction, the NUC boss, Professor Rasheed informed the visitors that the Commission was currently processing over 300 applications for the establishment of private universities including those of the Nigerian Army, Navy, Air force and Road Safety.
He said that access to university education was still a challenge hence the Commission welcomes every genuine efforts at establishing a university in the country.
Rasheed advised the Service to consider a name or title that would give its training institute an international outlook such as the West Africa Training Institute in order to attract grants, foreign students and international patronage as well as emerge as a Centre of Excellence.
He said with the name, West African Training Institute, it would be affiliated to both universities in Nigeria and other countries in the sub-region.
The NUC scribe said that one of the criteria for ranking universities globally is its diversity in knowledge seekers and givers.
