Babandede retires as Immigration boss after five years

The Comptroller General of the Nigeria Immigration Service, Muhammad Babandede, has retired after 36 years in service.

The Deputy Comptroller-General, Finance and Account, Idris Jere, has since stepped in as acting CG until a substantive CG is appointed by the President, Major General Muhammadu Buhari (retd.).

Babandede, who was appointed to the highest Immigration office on May 15, 2016, succeeded Martin Abeshi.

He was said to have enacted several reforms in the service, notably the digitisation of passport operations and the introduction of paperless administration.

Babandede also decentralised the issuance of passports and introduced the much-acclaimed Visa-on-Arrival policy.

Addressing officers and men of the NIS during a valedictory session organised in his honour on Friday, Babandede said, “I have left Immigration better than I found it.”

He acknowledged that he could only achieve so much with the assistance of his fellow officers.

Babandede’s tenure as CG lasted five years and four months.

Credit: Punch