Immigration Suspends Officer For Soliciting Bribes From Traveler

An Assistant Superintendent of Immigration II (ASI II), Okpravero Ufuoma, has been suspended by the Nigeria Immigration Service (NIS) for allegedly soliciting financial gratification from a traveler.

A spokesman for the Service, Kenneth Udo, in a statement said the officer’s conduct, captured in a video circulating on social media, does not reflect the values and ethics of professionalism upheld by the NIS.

Udo said the Service received the viral video with the caption, ‘This is how Immigration officers treat tourists in Nigeria’.

According to the statement, the Comptroller General of Immigration, Kemi Nandap, also condemned the alleged misconduct in the strongest terms, saying that it undermined the ongoing reforms aimed at enhancing service standards.

She, however, assured the public that the officer has been indefinitely suspended pending the outcome of disciplinary procedures, under the law and Public Service Rules.

Nandap stressed that the officer’s act was disgraceful and not a representation of the commitment of the service to hospitality, reception, and courtesy.