The Nigeria Immigration Service (NIS) said on Tuesday that it had deployed a gunboat in Cross River State to enhance maritime patrol and check cases of illegal migration and child trafficking across the sea.
The State Comptroller of NIS, Felix Uche, during the official deployment of the boat in Calabar, the Cross River State capital, said the boat was procured by the service to enhance sea patrols.
He said 16 NIS personnel have been trained by the Nigerian Navy on the operation of the boat.
Speaking at the event, the Commander of Nigerian Navy Ship (NNS) Victory, Commodore Julius Nwagu, said that the Nigerian Navy holds inter-agency cooperation in high esteem.
‘‘I am not in doubt that men of the NIS benefited from the training they have undergone in the past two months by the navy. One boat is not enough by our standard operating procedures. As you go out at sea, each time you need our assistance in ensuring that the migration laws are upheld, the navy will support you,” Nwagu said.
Copyright Ships & Ports Ltd. Permission to use quotations from this article is granted subject to appropriate credit given to www.shipsandports.com.ng as the source.