The Nigeria Immigration Service (NIS) says it has introduced a security document as part of its efforts to combat human trafficking.
According to NAN, NIS spokesperson in Bayelsa Ibiemo Cookey stated this in a statement on Thursday.
Cookey stated that the document was introduced in response to concerns raised about the increased rate at which young people in Bayelsa obtained the ECOWAS travel certificate rather than a passport.
The ECOWAS travel certificate was introduced in 2006 as part of efforts to improve member countries’ travel relations
Cookey stated that the new method used by traffickers allows them to avoid rigorous security checks at borders while travelling to any of the ECOWAS member states.
He stated that the NIS, after conducting a risk analysis, age review, travel purposes, and frequently visited countries by certificate holders, requested that the ECOWAS document issuance unit implement a new security requirement — the ‘Suspicious Travel Interrogation Form’.
He stated that the security document will be required for anyone travelling from Nigeria to any of the ECOWAS member states.
According to the Bayelsa NIS spokesperson, the security measure has had a positive impact because some people have been saved from being trafficked.
“The Bayelsa command will not rest on its oars until the syndicates are exposed and only well-justified, genuine trips with no link to Trafficking in Persons (TIPs) or Smuggling of Migrants (SOM) are established through the use of our interrogation process and vital intelligence tools to combat the menace.”
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