FG lauds Gambian Gov’t for promoting Gender Equality

FG lauds Gambian Gov’t for promoting Gender Equality

The Federal Government has commended the Gambian Government for granting women the opportunity to serve in the strategic positions of their public service.

The Permanent Secretary Ministry of Interior, Barr Georgina Ehuriah, MON gave the commendation, weekend in her office in Abuja, when the Comptroller General, Nigeria Immigration Service (NIS), Muhammad Babandede, led a delegation to the Ministry from the Gambian Ministry of Interior who are in the country on a study tour of the Nigeria Immigration Service.

According to her, the number of women in the team of those on study tour to the Nigerian Immigration Service is a clear indication of the commitment of the Government of Gambia towards the promotion of gender equality.

Ehuriah noted that Nigeria and the Gambia share almost the same commitment in the promotion of gender equality and in their public service structure, particularly their Ministry of Interior’s mandate which she said, is to ensure internal security and citizenship integrity.

She added that there is therefore the need for the two countries to strengthen their relationship towards ensuring internal security and citizenship integrity with the deployment of modern technology in the management of their borders.

Barr Ehiruah said further that President Muhammadu Buhari Administration is fully committed to ensuring internal security and citizenship integrity of Nigerians and as such, it will continue to collaborate with any country towards achieving the mandate particularly in the area of capacity building.

The Permanent Secretary called on the Gambian Immigration Department (GID) to make the best use of the opportunity granted them by their Nigerian Immigration Counterparts during their study tour so as to improve in their internal security and contribute meaningfully in the fight against terrorism and transnational crimes and criminality.

She expressed optimism that the Gambian Immigration Department (GID) would achieve a lot from their Nigerian Immigration Counterparts at the end of their study tour and assured that the service will continue to collaborate with the GID in the area of capacity building, e-border management and the fight against all forms of crimes and criminality, with the view to ensuring internal security in the country, there by promoting Foreign Direct Investment in line with the policy thrust of the President Muhammadu Buhari Administration.

She stated further that Nigeria Immigration Service was a flagship Agency of the Federal Government which had made the nation proud, saying, the Federal Government has achieved so much through the effort of the Service.
“When the NIS technology building under construction is completed, all its services will be fully automated, thus, making it a-one-stop-shop on issues of migration in Nigeria, comparable to other advanced nations of the world”, Ehuriah said.

The Permanent Secretary who also commended the International Organization on Migration (IOM) for its partnership with the Ministry that had led to the birth of the Migration Information and Data Analysis System (MIDAS), a means of ensuring cost-effective and comprehensive border management information system in Nigeria, noted that, it has helped the nation to build capacity.

“The impact of the extension of your services to other African countries, will greatly enhance their performance too”, she added.

The leader of the Gambian delegation and Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Interior, Moussier Assan Tangara, described the Nigeria Immigration Service (NIS) as a model service in the continent.

He said that the Gambian Immigration Department (GID) was going through a reform process, hence, it came to Nigeria to share common interest and also to understudy the successful reforms embarked upon by the country’s NIS..

He added that during the training, the Nigerian Immigration Service had fully furnished its officers with materials and up-to-date equipment that will ensure that all bottlenecks in the Gambian Immigration Department (GID) are tackled for enhanced services to its citizens because Nigeria, he said, runs the biggest MIDAS project in the whole world.

In his remarks, the Comptroller General, Nigeria Immigration Service (NIS), Muhammad Babandede said that the first crop of the Gambian Immigration Officers were trained at the Premier Immigration Training School, Kano, about 30 years ago, hence the long standing relationship through the years between the Immigration Agencies of the two Countries.
Babandede who appreciated the GID team for their choice of Nigeria in view of the recognized relationship that span years of fruitful growth, noted further that the present Director General, GID was a product of the Nigeria Immigration training, adding that the visit was a sign of support and value addition.
He said that since the arrival of GID in the country, NIS had put the visitors through a series of training, enlightening them on the number of reforms the Agency had embarked on in recent years, which had lifted its status to a world class Immigration Service.
Also speaking, the Director General, Gambia Immigration Department represented by the Commissioner Processing Ms Olimatou Jammeh said, her country appreciates the significance of women to the development of any nation, adding that the Gambian team was in the country to learn more about skills that would enhance the competence of the officers in border management information system, cross-border engagement strategies, border security and control among others.
She said that the relationship was necessary, especially as a leading service in the implementation of the modern migration management and the Integrated Border Management and Control. Stressing that Nigeria was the first country to implement and operationalize this.
Jammeh said that the study tour was symbolic and historic on the grounds of mutual and bilateral relationships between the two countries.
SIGNED
Mohammed Manga
Director (Press & Public Relations)