‘We can’t say whether Fulani herdsmen are Nigerians or not’ – NIS

There is no evidence to prove that the herdsmen involved in the killing of farmers and villagers across the country are immigrants who come into Nigeria from neighbouring countries, says the Nigeria Immigration Service.

According to the NIS spokesperson, Ekpedeme King, the Service can’t conclude on the nationalities of the herdsmen, as the agency hasn’t yet been able to profile them.

“There is no evidence that the herdsmen are foreigners and the immigration service doesn’t profile immigrants based on their ethnicity. So, the NIS cannot say whether the herdsmen are Nigerians or not because nobody has produced them for us to profile them.”

“We are at the borders and we have not seen any herdsman coming into the country. We have our men at the borders and they are doing their job. So far, what we have heard is speculation that they are from foreign countries, but no one has profiled them to know their identities, but it is not impossible that they could be foreigners.”

“We don’t ask if they (immigrants) are herdsmen or not and we don’t see people coming in with cattle. We have not received reports of people coming in with cattle. When you see someone coming in with animals, we have relevant agencies to check the state of the animals. If you are importing or exporting animals, like in other countries, the port health officials are in charge of that.”

Furthermore, he said the NIS cannot effectively guard the 1,400 illegal routes in Nigeria.

“There are over 1,400 illegal routes, but the border patrol guards cannot be posted to the illegal routes because they are illegal, you cannot post an official to go and work at a place that is declared illegal, those places are not recognised as border posts, but the border guards patrol the periphery of the borders and prevent illegal people from coming in.”

“We have patrol bases, the guards patrol from one base to the other. So, what we do is that we patrol the border areas, the government approved border bases for us.”

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