BENUE, MARCH 8, 2018 – Governor Samuel Ortom of Benue State has called for the review of the Economic Community of West African States, ECOWAS, Protocol since herdsmen now use it to undermine Nigeria’s security.
He made the appeal on Wednesday at the Benue Peoples House, Makurdi, during a visit by the Comptroller-General of the Nigeria Immigration Service, NIS, Mr. Muhammed Babandede.
Ortom said: “If the ECOWAS protocol has become a clog in the wheel of progress of Nigeria, it is high time we reviewed it”.
The governor stated that even the current protocol has provisions on procedures for trans-human movement within ECOWAS-member countries which should strictly be followed.
He suggested that the provisions for quarantine services for livestock and prohibition of movement with arms, as well as regulations that apply to human beings, should be enforced for improved security in the country.
According to him, security reports revealed that the heightened insecurity in the country was linked to foreign herdsmen who enter Nigeria without valid documents and also violate other regulations.
While tasking the NIS to curtail the excesses of emigrants into the country, Governor Ortom pledged to support to the Service for optimal performance and requested the recruitment of more Benue indigenes into the NIS.
Babandede expressed sympathy with the government and people of Benue State over the killings by suspected herdsmen and pledged the support of the NIS in addressing insecurity in the state.
He said he was in the state to patrol the border area at Abande in Kwande Local Government Area with a view to checking the influx of illegal foreigners into the country.
