Abuja – On 28 February 2019, IOM, the International Organization for Migration, launched the Nigeria Immigration Service Training Curriculum, and commissioned Personnel Training Resource Centers and Foreigner Registration Pilot Site at the headquarters of the Nigerian Immigration Service (NIS) in Abuja, the country’s capital.

The training curriculum for the Personnel Training Resource Centers (PTRCs) was developed to enhance the capacity of the NIS personnel and to provide the required baseline knowledge in carrying out their duties efficiently and effectively.

“PTRCs are created to implement a new and comprehensive curriculum,” said Fernando Medina, IOM Nigeria Officer in Charge. “New curriculum is created in full compliance with other NIS educational and training programs, aiming to reach all NIS officers and boost their capacity to conduct their demanding and important role,”

After IOM evaluated the NIS training system in 2014, one of the main weaknesses identified was the overreliance on long courses at the NIS’ four training schools. Due to this, only a limited amount of personnel benefit from crucial training.

Building on this evaluation, a new NIS Training Strategy was developed and implemented.

The programme enables NIS to offer continued core and upgraded training to all personnel regardless of rank or location of posting. In addition to Abuja and Calabar, five more PTRCs will be constructed in Kebbi, Kano, Awka, Edo, and Ogun State Commands.

“Immigration has changed to a global level, where officers no longer have training once or twice a year but rather have a continuous training,” said the Controller General Mohammed Babandede.

The NIS is collaborating with IOM to implement the strategy within the frameworks of “Training Strategy Implementation Programme” which is funded by the Governments of The Netherlands and Switzerland and the Deutsche Gesellscharft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ).

Each PTRCs site will hold 3-4 day training sessions per week on core topics, which will serve up to 15 trainees per weekly session.

Alongside these training centers, Foreigner Registration Pilot Sites at the NIS HQ and Cross-River state, provide a fully electronic and automatic platform for registration of biographic and biometric data of all foreign nationals and ECOWAS citizens in Nigeria. As part of the MIDAS (Migration Information and Data Analysis System), new foreigner registration pilot sites are a shift from a completely manual process to a fully standardized and automated system.

For more information, please contact: Jorge Galindo, IOM Nigeria, Tel: +234 815 5263 827, Email: jgalindo@iom.int or Ikechukwu Attah, Email: iattah@iom.int