ABUJA — There is growing disquiet among officers of the Nigerian Immigration Service (NIS) over what they have described as “disruptions in foreign missions duty” and prolonged non-payment of salaries, prompting the Civil Liberties Organization (CLO) to demand urgent government intervention.
The CLO’s Executive Director, Comrade Steve Aluko, told journalists that officers posted to foreign missions more than two years ago have yet to proceed to their respective countries of assignment, raising serious concerns about the fairness of the posting process.
According to Mr Aluko, even serving immigration attachés have expressed uncertainty over their fate, amid strong indications that they are to be replaced with officers perceived to have connections with senior officials.
He also alleged a plot to recall officers posted in 2023 without settling over 14 months of outstanding allowances, in order to pave the way for preferred candidates. He further claimed that some officers were being “recycled” for reposting having already served their statutory one-term limit, with one individual currently serving a second posting after being cross-posted to another country for a fresh duty tour.
“This is the highest level of injustice and we won’t allow it,” Mr Aluko stated. “Many of the new attachés have been left hanging; others have had their postings withdrawn and reallocated to close allies of those at the top. We are therefore requesting an immediate investigation and intervention to ensure due process and fairness before any new postings are effected.”
On the issue of salary arrears, Mr Aluko said information available to the CLO indicated that since 2024, officers at foreign missions had been lamenting irregular salary payments, which had caused them untold suffering and hardship.
He warned that there was an alleged grand plot to return them home without paying their entitlements, adding that the CLO was raising the alarm pre-emptively to prevent further injustice.
“I believe many people in the country have been following the situation of immigration attachés for a while now. In these last three years, immigration officers at foreign missions have demonstrated the highest level of professionalism and service ethics, yet they have suffered untold hardship due to lack of salary payments,” he said.
“Let’s make the point clear: we are not asking the immigration service to keep the officers on foreign mission indefinitely. They knew from the outset that there was a timeline. If the government pays them their money and asks them to return tomorrow, they will, and that will be understood as having completed their duty tour. All we are asking is for government to pay them their entitlements before returning them home.
“If the government fails to do so, it will bring great embarrassment to the service and cause significant issues for foreign missions going forward.”
Mr Aluko disclosed that many of the affected officers were burdened with substantial debts, including house rents, children’s school fees, hospital bills and other service provider obligations.
“How can they return home while they have not been paid their outstanding salaries to settle their debts?” he asked.
He called on other stakeholders to intervene, including the Federal Ministry of Interior, the Federal Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the National Security Adviser, the Accountant-General of the Federation, the Federal Ministry of Finance and even the Chief of Staff to the President.
Despite the hardships, Mr Aluko praised the officers for maintaining a high level of professionalism and for not compromising their duties, noting that there had been no reports of misconduct, extortion or financial embarrassment among them.
“All international engagements between Nigeria and other countries – whether at government level, corporate level or individual level – are facilitated by these officers. They should not be rewarded in this way,” he said.
He also highlighted that immigration was the highest revenue-generating desk at every foreign mission, in addition to the significant cost savings they provide Nigerians abroad by processing passports locally rather than requiring travel to Nigeria.
“The immigration are not the only agency at these foreign missions, but they are the only ones caught in this quagmire,” he added.
In response, the Immigration Service’s spokesperson, A.S. Akinlabi, described the matter as administrative and confirmed that affected personnel had already been mobilised for deployment. He urged the affected officers and other stakeholders to remain calm, assuring that outstanding payments would be addressed as the officers were entitled to what they had worked for.
Mr Akinlabi stressed the importance of immigration personnel to national security, including counter-terrorism operations, and reiterated that outstanding entitlements would be settled before officers were recalled from foreign missions.
