The Federal Government said it would refurbish three
grounded Nigeria Immigration Service surveillance aircrafts to boost security
at the nation’s borders.
The
Minister of Interior, retired Lt.-Gen Abdulrahman Dambazau, stated this on
Thursday when he inspected the Service’s air patrol base in Kaduna.
He
said that due to paucity of funds the government had settled for the option of
refurbishing the planes instead of buying new ones.
Dambazau
said that the rehabilitation of the aircrafts would be completed before the end
of 2017.
He
explained that purchasing a new patrol aircraft would cost at least five
million dollars, “which is very expensive at this point in time considering the
myriad of challenges confronting the country’’.
He stressed that the need for air surveillance to complement land border patrols to effectively secure the nation’s borders.
He stressed that the need for air surveillance to complement land border patrols to effectively secure the nation’s borders.
The
minister said that due to the old model of the aircrafts, there would be need
to upgrade them with modern facilities like the night patrol vision cameras and
area mapping and surveillance cameras for effective service.
“We
are looking at all possible ways to upgrade these aircrafts before the end of
the year.
“We cannot effectively secure our expansive and porous borders which spans over 4,500 kilometres without the use of these aircrafts,” he said.
“We cannot effectively secure our expansive and porous borders which spans over 4,500 kilometres without the use of these aircrafts,” he said.
Dambazau
said that apart from border management, the aircrafts when operational would
also help check cross-border crimes such as terrorism, drugs trade and human
trafficking.
He
said that security measures currently being taken by the government were part
of plans to secure the nation and attract foreign investors to the country.
Earlier,
the Comptroller-General of NIS, Mr Muhammad Babandede, said that effective air
and land border patrols were imperative for securing the nation from terrorism
and other trans-border crimes.
He
said that apart from resuscitating the patrol aircrafts, the service was also
intensifying its land patrols with sophisticated vehicles and bikes to protect
the nation’s borders.
Babandede
said that the NIS had started the process of re-training its pilots, engineers
and border patrol officers in line with international best practice.
The
News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the three grounded aircrafts were
Dornier 228 types, configured for mission patrols and equipped with on board stabilized
long range observation system and aerial cameras.
However,
most of the components of the aircrafts such as the surveillance cameras,
monitoring gadgets and tyres have become obsolete and non-functional due to
lack of maintenance.
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