The Federal Government has said it now has the capacity to identify and apprehend foreigners who overstay their visas in Nigeria.
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The Minister of Interior, Dr Olubunmi Tunji-Ojo, disclosed this on Thursday in Abuja during the 2026 Sectoral Performance Review Retreat of the Federal Ministry of Interior.
Tunji-Ojo said the government now possessed comprehensive data that would enable authorities to track individuals who entered the country over the past decade and determine those who had failed to comply with their visa conditions.
According to him, the development followed the establishment of an Integrated Operations Centre and a Network Operations Centre by the Nigeria Immigration Service.
The minister stated that the Federal Government would begin enforcement against foreigners who had overstayed their visas, noting that other countries also take similar measures against irregular migrants.
He said, “In NIS, I know we are doing a lot already. As of today, we have been able to build our Integrated Operations Centre and the Network Operations Centre, which we never had before.
“With that, we can access, in the last 10 years, everybody who has entered, where you came from, everything, we have all your records, we have everything, we know the exact people who have overstayed in our country, and we will go after them, with due respect, because, outside of Nigeria, they go after the irregular immigrants and we think we have to protect the sanctity of our borders.”
The minister also stressed the need for reforms across agencies under the ministry, including the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps, to ensure services are delivered transparently and without corruption.
Tunji-Ojo said the goal of government institutions should be to protect citizens, particularly the most vulnerable in society.
“NSCDC provides protection in an organised and corruption-free manner, where the son of a nobody will have the same opportunity as the son of anybody in government.
“If you are a businessman or there is a genuine threat to your life, you should be able to access protection without going through the minister, the Commandant General, or anyone else.
“It is only then that we can truly say we have a service that works for Nigerians.
“Nigeria should not be about selective service delivery. The essence of government is to protect everyone, with greater emphasis on protecting the weakest in society,” he said.
Speaking on correctional reforms, the minister argued that a system where individuals repeatedly return to custody reflected a failure of rehabilitation.
“Anybody who goes in there must be reformed and transformed,” he said, adding that the objective was to reduce cases of repeat offences to the barest minimum.
The Permanent Secretary of the ministry, Magdalene Ajani, emphasised the importance of accountability in leadership.
She said leadership is about “devotion, promises, performance, and impact,” noting that the ministry’s agencies play critical roles that affect the daily lives of Nigerians and therefore require transparency and effective service delivery.
The move to track foreigners who overstay their visas forms part of renewed efforts by the Federal Government to strengthen border management and enforce immigration regulations across the country.
Officials say the system will enable immigration authorities to monitor the movement of travellers more effectively and identify individuals who remain in Nigeria beyond the duration permitted by their visas.
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