The Minister of Interior Dr Olubunmi Tunji-Ojo at the weekend rejected the 2026 work plans of the Nigeria Immigration Service and the Federal Fire Service, saying they fall short of the performance expectations of the Federal Government under the Renewed Hope Agenda of President Bola Tinubu.

Dr Tunji-Ojo stated that the leadership of both agencies, headed by NIS Comptroller-General Kemi Nanna Nandap and FFS Controller-General Samuel Adeyemi Olumode, must revise their work plans to align with the administration’s targeted goals, especially as all attention is on the government in this election year.

The remarks were made following the presentation of the agencies’ work plans at the closing ceremony of the 2026 Sectoral Performance Retreat for officials under the Ministry of Interior, held at the Nigeria Army Conference Centre.

Other agencies, including the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps, the Nigerian Correctional Service, and the National Identity Management Commission, also presented their 2026 work plans during the three-day retreat themed “Accountable leadership, measurable impacts: reviewing results and renewing commitments.”

At the conclusion of the retreat, agency leadership signed performance contracts to formalise their commitments. During her presentation, Mrs Nandap highlighted NIS plans for mapping and reassessing Nigeria’s 4,040km borders, aiming to achieve 50 percent coverage with the physical presence of NIS personnel.

She said the Service intended to deploy an additional 1000 personnel to support 5,000 already deployed to about 143 border posts, while the NIS would work on adding two more border posts to the existing ones.

Mrs Nandap also said about 2 million Passports were issued the previous year, and the NIS intended to improve upon the numbers, stressing that the NIS also intended to reduce the number of days of issuance of Passports from 14 to 7 days.

But the Minister rejected the work plans, saying that the NIS leadership should work on it as there are pressures on the government to improve border management and security for the country.

The Minister insisted that the figures projected by the leadership of the NIS, should be reconciled for clarity and consistency to enable the government implement its policies seamlessly.

He said the Comptroller-General of Immigration should have provided a baseline for the numbers of applications for Passports last year in concomitant with the number of Passports issued out to enable government work on the gaps.

Also, based on the data presented by the NIS boss, the Minister said adding a mere two border posts to 143 was not good enough for the administration in 2026.

He enjoined the NIS boss to bring on board 153 or 200 unofficial border posts that needed to be upgraded with state of the arts equipment/gadgets and personnel for the administration to consider for effective border management and security for the country.

Dr Tunji-Ojo also rejected the presentations of the Comtroller-General of FFS, saying that the presentation falls short of government expectations for effective and efficient service delivery for the agency.

He said in a country of 240 million with the presence of fire fighting institutions in the 36 of the Federation and the FCT, it was discomforting for the agency to plan the training of a mere 200 fire fighting volunteers/ Marshals, and mount surveillance on 10 markets in the country.

The Minister also rejected the plan to reduce response times to 15 minutes from 30 minutes for fire emergencies or disasters from FFS, describing it as unrealistic.

The Minister urged the Fire Service boss to work in collaboration with the National Information Technology Development Agency, NITDA, and the Nigerian Communications Commission, NCC, to be able to secure a toll-free line for emergency calls for citizens during fire disasters.

He however praised the leadership of the para-military agencies in the Ministry for working through the retreat with diligence, saying President Bola Tinubu expectations from them regarding their performances are very high. (The Nation)

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