The Nigeria Immigration Service will partner with the National Universities Commission to establish a migration institute for West African countries.
The West African Institute for Migration Studies will be based in Tuga, Kebbi State, Northern Nigeria. It will study issues related to migrants, including their rights and privileges, Nigeria’s Independent newspaper reports.
Mohammed Babandede, the NIS comptroller-general, told a meeting in Abuja on 15 June that the partnership with the NUC will help reform the immigration service. “One thing we have to do if we want to develop our country is to develop our intellectual capacity,” he said.
The institute will be affiliated to other universities in West Africa. According to Babandede, it will go a long way in repositioning the immigration service as well as boosting the economy of the country and the region.
Abubakar Rasheed, the NUC’s executive secretary, told the same meeting that the commission would give the institute an intellectual shape along with a high-standard curriculum.
“We [will] ensure that credible professors within and outside Nigeria are brought [in] in preparation for the curriculum that will be taught,” he said.