Officials of the Nigeria Immigration Service, Lagos State Command have arrested 82 illegal immigrants. One of them, 34-year-old Shuaib Kaneda who is from the Niger Republic, and has spent eight years in Nigeria without any valid document, says many illegal immigrants usually entered Nigeria by paying between N300 and N500 to unidentified persons.
Shuaib was arrested along with a relative, Idris, who had spent barely one year in the country when he was caught.
Shuaib, who spoke in pidgin, said, “I have been here for about eight years now. I work as a loader and make between N1, 000 and N1, 500 a day. I use the money I make to feed my family in the Niger Republic. I am married and have two children and they are in Niger.
“I travel home every six or eight months. The people at the border see many of us when we come in. Sometimes, they collect N300 and other times, we give them N500 before we pass.”
His brother, Idris, also explained that he came into the country to make money which he usually sent home to his family of three.
Another suspect, Alimaru Saliade, said that he sneaked into the country by mixing up with cows being transported into Nigeria.
Saliade, who claimed not to know his age, said in pidgin, “I followed cows to Lagos. I have been here for four years now and I have not been able to get my documents because I don’t have money.”
For Yaya Ibrahim, coming to Lagos was to avoid being idle in the village.
“I was in my village and was not doing anything. So, my uncle asked me to come and work in Lagos and that was how I found myself here. My parents live in Ghana but we are from Niger,” he said.
According to Punch, The Public Relations Officer of the Nigeria Immigration Service, Lagos State Command, Muyiwa Odunubi, said the command raided the suspects based on intelligence report.
He said while some of the suspects were caught around banks’ branches, others were found sleeping under the bridge and “constituting nuisance to residents”.
The Comptroller of the state’s command, Mrs. Justina Ahmadu, further appealed to citizens to cooperate with them by not harbouring illegal Immigrants.
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