The Nigerian Immigration Service on Monday canceled Anti-Smuggling Week 2025, warning that organized criminal networks are expanding their operations through cyberspace and dangerous transport routes, exposing migrants to human trafficking, extortion, sexual exploitation, violence and death.
The Commissioner for Immigration, Kemi Nandap, delivered the address at the NIS Headquarters in Abuja through the Deputy Commissioner for Operations and Logistics, Ada Umana.
She said the department is renewing its anti-smuggling campaign with a focus on increasing awareness, solidarity and efforts to tackle migrant smuggling crimes.
In a statement signed by military spokesperson Akinsola Akinrabi, Nandup said the week-long activities will build up to International Migrants Day.
He stressed that the theme “Migrant Smuggling: Emerging Trends, Realities and National Responses” reflects both Nigeria’s pressing security concerns and global realities.
The Immigration Commissioner said the service was purposeful on the topic as it called on the NIS to confront the changing dynamics of irregular migration and step up action against networks that prey on the vulnerable “in search of hope”.
“I am very pleased and welcome everyone to this year’s No Smoking Campaign, which has focused on raising awareness, building solidarity and new initiatives in the global fight against the criminal act of migrant smuggling.
“Today, as we launch these activities that culminate in the celebration of International Migration Day, we reflect on the realities of migration, its promise, opportunities and challenges, and our shared collective mission to protect the dignity and rights of all migrants.
“This year’s theme of migrant smuggling, emerging trends, realities and national responses speaks directly to the pressing issues facing our country, Nigeria, the region and the world at large,” she said.
Nandup said the rise of organized smuggling networks and evolving online tactics and changing routes are creating “new layers of danger”, particularly at desert crossings, where migrants face “unimaginable dangers” including human trafficking and death.
While Nandup maintained that the NIS does not impede migration, it promotes “safe, regular and orderly” movement, employing what she described as a multi-pronged approach based on prevention, enforcement and international cooperation.
“The Nigerian Immigration Service is deliberate in its choices in this area to challenge the NIS.
“This calls on us not only to recognize the drivers of illegal immigration, but also to deepen our resolve to combat criminal network operations that exploit vulnerable people in search of hope.
“The rise of organized migrant smuggling networks, coupled with evolving trends in smuggling operations in cyberspace, is creating a new layer of danger for migrants, leading to unimaginable risks of human trafficking, extortion, sexual exploitation, violence and death,” she said.
Nandap clarified: “NIS does not say don’t migrate. It says make migration safe, make it regular, and make it orderly.”
On prevention, she said the service had strengthened public education about the dangers of illegal migration and the “deceptive tactics” used by smugglers, adding that NIS had expanded its cooperation with government agencies, civil society groups, faith-based organizations, market and transport unions, and schools to facilitate legal recourse.
She also revealed that she is working to sensitize young Nigerians through her work at the National Youth Service Corps orientation camp.
She said more than 579,000 service members were sensitized nationwide “this year alone,” and sensitization also reached border communities across the country through the service’s annual sensitization program.
On the enforcement front, he said police officers were deployed in each organization to identify, investigate and prosecute individuals and criminal networks involved in migrant smuggling, adding that the sanctions under the law were “huge” and aimed at holding perpetrators accountable.
Mr Nandap also linked the NIS response to a broader technical and policy push by the Ministry of Home Affairs, remembered the Minister, Dr. Olubunmi Tunji-Ojo, and outlined the systems put in place to strengthen border controls.
She cited enhanced cross-border surveillance on land, sea and air, as well as platforms and tools to support migration control and passenger screening.
“We have strengthened surveillance along land, sea and air borders, established a state-of-the-art command and control center that reflects all operational activities of the service, and deployed technology-driven solutions such as Migration Information and Data Analytics System, Midas, Advanced Passenger Information System, APS, Passenger Name Record, PNR, electronic gates at international airports, as well as Huawei-powered electronic border solutions deployed at more than 144 border points across the country.
“Just last week, a retired high-ranking official came into my office. He looked at the monitor and asked, ‘What is this for?'” I said it was for monitoring a deployed system. He said “Wow” and thought we were just talking. Now he saw. He’s going to go and tell other people that it’s true,” she explained.
He stressed that the transnational nature of migrant smuggling makes international cooperation important, citing partnerships with ECOWAS, the African Union, the International Organization for Migration, the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime and other global stakeholders.
She said this cooperation would strengthen early warning, repatriation and cross-border law enforcement, while supporting capacity building, data exchange, joint investigations and safe return programs, particularly through bilateral agreements between transit and destination countries.
At the launch of the campaign, Nandup said the service was recommitted to strengthening border security and intelligence operations, dismantling smuggling networks, protecting migrants, especially women and children, deepening partnerships at home and abroad, and defending the human rights and dignity of migrants “regardless of their status.”
She added that this fight is not just for governments, insisting that families and communities must also play a role in preventing human trafficking and smuggling.
Nandup thanked development partners and the international community for their technical assistance and capacity-building interventions, and said NIS intends to maintain a partnership aimed at promoting “safe, orderly and regular migration.”
