The Nigeria Immigration Service (NIS) has introduced a code of conduct and an Electronic Data Management System (EDMS) to boost service efficiency and guide the conduct of its officers.
Launching the two innovations at the NIS headquarters in Abuja, yesterday, Minister of Interior, Rauf Aregbesola, said the objective was to improve efficiency and make officers the pride of the nation.
Aregbesola said: “As gatekeepers of the nation, NIS cannot but regularly showcase the cherished virtues of integrity, courtesy, sound morality and uncommon transparency in its official conduct.
“As mirror of the largest black nation of the world, which the NIS represents, it must not only be crystal clear at all times but also attractive, courteous, engaging and pleasant.”
The minister said the code of conduct demands that all officers and men become acquainted with their expected roles and responsibilities and be guided by the principles and standards of behaviour in the discharge of their duties.
He explained that the essence of setting codes of conduct and ethics for an agency such as NIS is to ensure that actions, dispositions and behaviours of the workforce conform significantly to rules of engagement.
Speaking earlier, the Comptroller-General of NIS, Muhammad Babandede, said: “As an agency that has both local and international appeal, we have come to realise that except we deliberately rejig our processes, practices, conducts and procedures, we shall not be able to contend with the unfolding realities and challenges of modern migration and border security.”
He said: “Globalisation and its attendant consequences have continued to reduce spaces, expand connectivity and improve uncommon relationships among persons, organisations and governments. New ideas, practices, processes and innovations are daily hitting the global landscape constantly and consistently.
Giving more insight on the code of conduct, Babandede said: “Our central goal for developing a document such as this is to acquaint our personnel with our core value of zero tolerance for corrupt practices and our high premium for strong integrity and effective and efficient service delivery.”
He said the Service chose to introduce EDMS and put an end to papers because it could not continue to conduct its operations and processes using old tools and processes.
Babandede said: “We understood that the process and manner of passing operational files and others correspondences in the typical civil service manner will no longer make good meaning to fast-paced developments in global migratory realities.”
