FG To Deploy AI-driven Tracking System To Crackdown On Irregular Migrants
•By Admin
ABUJA —- THE Federal Government has revealed a nationwide crackdown on irregular migrants, by deploying a new AI-driven tracking system that monitors every traveler who has entered the country over the past ten years.
Minister of Interior, Dr Olubunmi Tunji-Ojo, who stated this during the the 2026 Sectoral Performance Review Retreat of the ministry on Thursday in Abuja, said that the government now has data to identify and locate those who have overstayed their visas as
Nigeria Immigration Service NIS is migrating into an “internal security enabler and a protector and guardian of our border space.”
“In NIS, I know we are doing a lot already. As of today, we have been able to build our Integrated Operations Centre and the Network Operations Centre which we never had before.
“With that, we can access, in the last 10 years, everybody who has entered, where you came from, everything, we have all your records, we have everything, we know the exact people who have overstayed in our country, and we will go after them, with due respect, because, outside of Nigeria, they go after the irregular immigrants and we think we have to protect the sanctity of our borders,” he said.
To the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps NSCDC, the Minister maintained that specialized security services must be democratized.
According to the minister, NSCDC VIP protection must be “corruption-free, where the son of a nobody will have the chance of being protected without knowing anybody.”
He stressed that protection should be available to any citizen facing a genuine threat “without knowing the Commandant General or anybody.”
The minister also urged the National Identity Management Commission NIMC, to do more on registration and data capturing.
“A lot of people have been captured, a lot of progress has been made but not until every Nigerian has been captured, we cannot say we have succeeded,” he said.
Dr Tunji-Ojo expressed the ministry’s determination on focusing on its core security objectives, stating “2027 polls won’t distract us from our mandate.”
“There will be repercussions and consequences for non-delivery of targets” in this “era of business unusual.”
Dr Tunji-Ojo argued that a system where individuals repeatedly return to custody is a failure of reformation.
“Anybody who goes in there must be reformed and transformed,” he noted, stressing that the goal is to reach a point where recidivism is close to zero.
On her part, the Permanent Secretary, Dr Magdalene Ajani, said leadership is about “devotion, promises, performance, and impact.”