‘THERE IS NO STREET IN THIS COUNTRY THAT DOESN’T HAVE GOLD’, CIS USMAN MUSA TELLS NIGERIAN YOUTHS
By Oki Samson, Trek Africa Newspaper
L-R: Deputy Public Relations Officer, National Association of Online Security News Publishers (NAOSNP), Theresa Moses; Comptroller of Nigeria Immigration, Murtala Mohammed 2 Airport, Lagos; CIS Usman Musa and National President, NAOSNP, Oki Samson during the Presentation of NAOSNP Comptroller of the year to CIS Musa at his office in Lagos.
* Preaches against human trafficking, berates get-rich-quick schemes
* Bags NAOSNP Comptroller of the year
The Comptroller of Nigeria Immigration, Murtala Mohammed 2 Airport, Lagos; CIS Usman Musa has urged Nigerian youths to see possibilities in the country as he issued stern warning that his men and officers are on top of their game to turn back any Nigerian who does not have legitimate means or business outside the country.
CIS Musa made this known when he had a brief chat with delegate of the Executive Members of the National Association of Online Security News Publishers (NAOSNP) when they paid a courtesy visit to him at his office to present his award recently won at the association’s annual dinner and awards 2020 held at NERDC Conference centre, Alausa-Ikeja in Lagos. He said: ‘Migration in general has a rule. It’s vital for our people to understand the rule and that’s our job. That’s why we enforce, when you don’t know we let you know. We do not coerce, there’s a difference between A and B, its information. We give you information. We try the best we could to make sure the right people come into this country, the right people leave this country, that’s our work here. Your coming in and going out, is it to the interest of the country and whole world? If yes, then you’re good to go.’
CIS Usman Musa flipping through the NAOSNP Program Booklet for her dinner and awards 2020.
‘Someone is travelling out of this country and it’s not prepared. Some don’t know that they are not prepared. We let them know that they are not prepared. Some knew but still want to go by all means. It’s not done.’
‘How can you go for employment outside this country you never knew the kind of employment it is? How can you leave this country without knowing where you’re going to, it’s not done. For example, some of the flights are connecting flights to long destinations. The first flight here is maybe someone going to Dubai, you now follow Egypt Air. When we are asking the person, he/she will say he’s going to Egypt but the visa is Dubai. Is it not enough to see that there’s a lack of information. All that they are after is when we get there we are going to make it. Where are you going to make it, they don’t know?’
CIS Usman Musa
Pleading with Nigerians against human trafficking, the Comptroller stated: ‘Human trafficking is deception, quick money. That’s it. Otherwise in this country, there’s no street in this country that doesn’t have gold. The ones that have been opportuned to come back, when they narrate down their stories, your tears will finish. That’s why it is called practical experience.’
‘Whatever we are telling them here, they don’t listen because their mindset is already there. But those kind of people by our profession we are able to discover that there are elements of trafficking, we advise them and counsel them in the airport auditorium, in the same hall where we receive the returnees so they can see. Many times, they hear their own language. Many times, they are even from the same clan or village. It makes our job easier to pass the message across to them.’
‘Some will come with their parents and their parents will plead with us. We will still talk to them in line with the rules. If you have to travel, you must have something that’s attractive so that the host country can give you a VIP treatment. But when you appear needy, who will even receive you? We continue to tell our people and encourage them to look inwards. There’s no street that doesn’t have gold in this country, all depends on how you harness it. Simple. There’s no place like home.’
On their working relationship with the public, he explained that they want feedback, ‘We want the public to tell us what we are supposed to do that we are not doing so that we can improve. We are not perfect; we are human beings and have our own limits. We want to be aware of our limitations so that we can see where we can improve and do better. Whenever there are positives, there must be negative. I am interested in negativity to see how we can work even better and move on.’
‘By the time you come across our positive, please tell us our negativity let me take the challenge and move on. Whenever there are challenges, don’t run away from them, face it. If you don’t face it, it will weigh you down. Then you should count yourself lucky to have people that are watching you. That’s what I call development. That’s the spirit.’
