Border Security: NIS Consolidates 15m Migration Records, Warns Officers On Tech Misuse

The Nigeria Immigration Service ( NIS) has consolidated more than 15 million migration records into its Border Control and Immigration Management System (BCIMS), as its Comptroller-General , Kemi Nanna Nandap, warns officers against technology misuse and reliance on automated alerts without proper verification.

Nandap disclosed this on Friday at the formal closing ceremony of a specialised training programme on border control and immigration management for 87 officers at the service’s headquarters in Abuja.

She said integrating BCIMS with the Migration Information and Data Analysis System (MIDAS), the Service’s previous platform, had enabled the Nigeria Immigration Service ( NIS) to bring previously fragmented migration information together to improve identity verification, border checks and the assessment of potential security risks.

According to the Comptroller-General, the achievement goes beyond the number of records consolidated, as the system is designed to give authorised officers a more coordinated picture of travellers’ identities, movements and potential risks.

She explained that the increasing complexity of international travel, identity fraud, migrant smuggling, human trafficking and other transnational crimes had made coordinated information-sharing and competent personnel essential to effective border management.

Nandap stressed that although technology could help identify suspicious patterns and support operational decisions, it must not replace evidence, professional judgement or respect for travellers’ rights.

“An alert is not a verdict. A risk indicator calls for careful, proportionate examination. It never replaces evidence, professional judgement, or respect for the rights of the travellers standing in front of you,” she said.

She said the 87 officers who completed the specialised training had a responsibility to ensure that the technology was deployed accurately, lawfully and responsibly in their daily operations.

The NIS boss further noted that secure mobile devices could extend verification beyond fixed immigration terminals, while artificial intelligence-assisted tools could help flag patterns requiring further examination. However, she maintained that every system-generated result must remain subject to human verification and oversight.

Nandap warned that poor-quality data could produce unreliable analysis and that unchecked alerts could lead to harmful decisions, urging officers to understand when to rely on system outputs, when to verify information and when to seek further clarification through established procedures.