THE Nigerian Immigration Service (NIS) has graduated its first batch of Women Armed Squad consisting of 61 female personnel.
The officers were passed out after undergoing training exercises in weapons handling, border security among others.
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Speaking at the passing out parade ceremony of the squad, Isa Jere, the Comptroller-General, NIS tasked the newly graduated female officers to put the knowledge and training learnt into use to enhance their capacity and prepare for future tasks ahead.
Jere was represented by an Assistant Comptroller-General, Usman Babangida, at the passing out parade ceremony at the NIS training school, Ahoada in Rivers State.
He charged the officers to ensure the security of the country’s borders and also ensure that the lives and property of the citizens are well protected.
Jere further said the Women Armed Squad would enhance the capacity of the Service to deploy more personnel to critical areas.
“Today, we are witnessing the Passing Out Parade of 61 officers, all female, who have undergone rigorous physical training on weapons handling among others.
“These officers have indeed demonstrated their readiness and capacity to stand toe-to-toe with the male as they go out there to serve our fatherland,” Jere said.
He explained that the Service still has over 1000 personnel undergoing the pre-basic training programme in Immigration Training School, Kano and the Customs Training School, Goron Dutse, Kano.
The Comptroller-General noted that the essence of the training was to ensure the readiness of NIS operatives to compete favourably with their counterparts across the world in the performance of core Immigration duties.
Nurudeen Akewushola is an investigative reporter and fact-checker with The ICIR. He believes courageous in-depth investigative reporting is the key to social justice, accountability and good governance in society. You can reach him via [email protected] and @NurudeenAkewus1 on Twitter.