Allegation of Corruption, Nepotism Trail Immigration Promotion Exercise

• Agency rubbishes claim

Solomon Elusoji

A list of individuals drafted into the Nigerian Immigration’s Comptroller Cadre is a clear evidence that a promotion exercise which was conducted in July 2017 was marred by fraud, ethnic bias and religious discrimination, a senior immigration official has alleged.

Although the list was provided to THISDAY, it could not independently verify the alleged claims or its authenticity as at press time.

The senior immigration official who pleaded to remain anonymous, said: “A close study of the promotion list showed that Muslim officers from the North, especially the North-west geopolitical zone, were favoured above others,” the senior immigration official told THISDAY during an interview recently.

“How does one explain that the first two pages of the list of officers promoted from the rank of the rank of CSI to ACI contained the name of Muslim officers of northern extraction. Are they the most intelligent in the service? It was also observed that Katsina State alone produced five to six comptrollers, while some southern states had none. This is sheer wickedness.”

The official went further to call on the federal government to launch a probe into what he described as a “saga” and “ensure that justice and appropriate sanction is meted” to those within the system found guilty.”

However, when THISDAY contacted the Nigerian Immigration Service, its spokesman, Mr. Sunday James, rubbished the allegation.
“Ethnic bigotry is a very bad thing,” he said. “There is no reason why an officer will go out and say such things. Who wants to divide this country? You cannot start using religion or ethnicity to divide the country. Is promotion a right?”

He added: “Immigration did not even approve this promotion, it was done by a board and they must have sat down and drawn up a criteria. I sat for promotion interview before, I was not successful and I did not go to heaven to cry to God. I simply prepared for the next one.
“There is a channel of laying these complaints within the service. It is only when the service has not responded to their complaints that they are supposed to go to the press. It is unfair. There is a procedure,” he added.