NIS promotes 7,000 officers, Correctional Service decorates 307 in Edo

Michael Olugbode in Abuja and Adibe Emenyonu in Benin City

The Nigeria Immigration Service (NIS) has promoted 7, 000 officers across different ranks and departments in the service as approved by its Board.

This was just as the Edo State Command of Nigerian Correctional Services has decorated 307 officers promoted by the Controller General of the Services, Hilaru Nababa, in Benin City, Edo State.

A statement from Acting Public Relations Officer of NIS, Kenneth Kure, disclosed that the promotion was contained in a letter signed by the Secretary of the Immigration, Civil Defense, Correctional and Fire Service Board, Alhaji Jafaru Ahmed.

Kure stated: “The number of promoted officers and men included both senior officers who sat for the regular exams as well as junior staff who were upgraded as a result of acquiring additional qualifications.”

The Acting Comptroller General, Wuraola Adepoju, also approved the appointment of the erstwhile Service spokesman, Tony Akuneme as FCT Command Comptroller.

Comptroller Joseph Dada, was also appointed new Principal Staff Officer to the Comptroller General.

Dada, a graduate of Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile Ife, has served in various commands in the NIS and was until his recent appointment, the Comptroller in charge of Marine Border Corps in the Service Headquarters, Kure said

The Service noted that 12 Comptrollers were recently redeployed to different states, including FCT, Kano, Jigawa, Ondo, Ogun, Mfum Border Control, among others.

The CG charged the officers and men of the Service to put the image of the Service above personal interests, saying the NIS remains a foremost Agency for international visitors.

She promised to prioritise personnel welfare, asserting that henceforth promotion would be based strictly on seniority, hard work and dedication to duty.

Adepoju, decried the stagnation of some older officers, saying it was disheartening to see them remain at their positions, while newly recruited ones were moving over and above them in ranks.

“Any staff who is not well motivated cannot guarantee quality output,” she said.

In a related development, the Edo State Command of Nigerian Correctional Services has decorated 307 officers in Benin City, Edo State.

Speaking, the State Controller, Mrs. Philomena Emehinola, said 77 of the 307 elevated officers were at the state headquarters, Benin City, while others were from the various divisions of the Command.

She urged the officers to see the promotion as a call to higher responsibility and a means to be good ambassadors to the command.

“Today is a great day in our lives, for the first time in our history, a large number of people are being decorated. We have a total number of 307 persons promoted. In the headquarters alone, we are 74.

“I want to call on those officers that are decorated today to see the elevation as an opportunity to do more job, and that more responsibility has been put on your shoulders.

“I urge you to carry the flag of the Nigerian Correctional Service high, because it is no longer business as usual. The new Controller General has zero tolerance for nonchalant attitude to work.

“He is promoting us; he wants us to do more. He is putting us in positions, he wants us to deliver. We expect much from government but let be patient. Over 10,000 were promoted all over the nation, nobody would have believed that something like that can happen.”

She also said the Correctional Service and other sister agencies were working in collaboration to fulfill their mandate of making the state a safer one for everybody.

“In Edo, our sister security agencies are cooperating with us. We have men of the Nigerian Army stationed in all our facilities across the state. We have them in Benin Correctional Center, we have them in Oko, Ubiaja and Auchi, they are there. We have the Police, the Civil Defence and Department of State Service(DSS) all working together.”

Also, speaking, one of the elevated officers, DCP Joseph Egwuatu thanked God for the promotion.

“Promotion comes from God with a little part of hard work and calls for more responsibility. For instance, there are some kind of duty that will not be given to some persons in a certain cadre. But as you progress, such duties can be assigned to you. As I am promoted, that means more are expected from me,” he said.