Nigeria Immigration Service gets New CGI

• Muhammed Babandede MFR has been appointed the Comptroller General of the Nigeria Immigration Service by the President, Commander-in-Chief of the Armed forces  of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, President Muhammadu Buhari GCFR. The appointment took effect from 15th May, 2016.

• He took over from CGI Martin Abeshi (Rtd) who has retired voluntarily from the Service.

• The Comptroller-General hails from Hadejia in Jigawa State and holds a Masters degree in Law Enforcement and Criminal Justice from the Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria. He is a Member of the Order of the Federal Republic MFR, Chevening Fellow, Leadership Academy for Policing from the United Kingdom, Member, INTERPOL Working Group on Human Trafficking and Fellow, Institute of Administration, amongst others.

• Muhammed Babandede has a wealth of experience in Government. He joined the NIS as an Asst. Superintendent of Immigration and served as Personal Assistant to the last Director of Immigration (now CGI), Immigration Attache in the Consulate General of Nigeria in Berlin, Germany, Comptroller of Immigration, Migration Desk at the Service Headquarters, Asst Comptroller General (Passport) before he was promoted to Deputy Comptroller-General of Immigration and posted to the Directorate of Operations and Passport, his last post before his appointment as CGI.

• At a time, he was Director of Investigation in the National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in persons (NAPTIP) and is currently the Commissioner representing NIS in National Hajj Commission. An intellectual in his own right, the  Comptroller General has presented 39 papers on Human Trafficking and Illegal migration in various fora both in Nigeria and abroad.

• His competencies include resource mobilization, public speaking and he has prudently managed projects in conjunction with UNICEF, IOM, UNODC and ECOWAS.