FG, Netherlands deepen migration cooperation

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….As Dutch Govt donates equipment to NIS

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By Omeiza Ajayi

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ABUJA: The Federal Government and the Government of the Kingdom of the Netherlands have expressed commient to deepening their cooperation in the area of migration and human smuggling.

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The development came as the Repatriation and Departure Service, Ministry of Justice and Security, Netherlands donated some equipment to the Nigeria Immigration Service NIS Hostmanship Unit.

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The Nigeria Immigration Service NIS implements Hostmanship as a specialized service delivery and human dignity training program, developed in partnership with the Repatriation and Departure Services of the Dutch Ministry of Justice and Security.

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Its core purpose is to train officers to approach public interactions with empathy, hospitality, professionalism, and respect.

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The equipment, presented at a ceremony in Abuja, includes a 24 KVA solar inverter system, a 20-kilowatt backup lithium battery, two 75-inch LG Smart TVs, a TV stand, a TV wall mount, a digital projector and projector screen, nine sun-shaped window blinds, an outdoor wireless internet router, four solar standing fans, an integrated sound system, two wireless microphones, an HP laptop computer, a whiteboard and a whiteboard stand.

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The Comptroller General of Immigration, Kemi Nandap described the donation as an investment in people and institutional excellence, saying it went beyond a mere collection of office assets. She said the items represented “our collective resolve to build an organization where professionalism, empathy, courtesy, and excellence define every interaction with members of the public.”

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Nandap said the Hostmanship Unit, though recently established, had made remarkable progress in embedding a guest-centred culture across the service through structured training programmes and the development of the Nigeria Immigration Service Guest Engagement Guidelines. She said the donation would strengthen the capacity of the unit to carry out its mandate, enhance training delivery and improve operational efficiency.

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Nandap expressed the service’s profound appreciation to the Government of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, particularly the Repatriation and Departure Service (DT&V), for its unwavering support, describing the partnership as one that had gone beyond technical assistance to become “a genuine collaboration built on trust, shared learning, and a common desire to improve migration management and public service delivery.” She assured the Dutch partners that the equipment would be judiciously utilised and properly maintained.

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“Let these equipment serve not merely as a resource, but as a reminder of our responsibility to ensure that every traveler, every member of the public experiences professionalism, dignity, respect whenever they engage with the Nigerian Migration Service,” Nandap said.

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Charge d’Affaires at the Embassy of the Netherlands in Abuja, Ronnald Sonnemans, commended the level of cooperation between the two countries, noting that he had personally witnessed the transformation the Hostmanship training had brought to NIS officers over the years.

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He said the Netherlands remained committed to partnering with Nigeria in migration cooperation, adding that the continuation of the mobile team project after its initial phase was aimed at further professionalising Nigeria’s border management tasks.

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Senior Adviser at the Department for Agriculture and Forestry Services in the Agency of Dominions for Europe, Justice and Security in the Netherlands, Jan-Willem Keuninck, said the two services had maintained an intensive working relationship for 25 years, spanning yearly municipal working visits, the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) on migration, and several capacity-building activities.

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He said officers of the NIS had been certified as Hostmanship trainers in the Netherlands, and disclosed that a unique training programme for the service’s senior executives would be launched in the Netherlands in September.

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The NIS Hostmanship Coordinator, ACI Samson Thomas, described the ceremony as historic, saying the donation was not merely a contribution of valuable assets but a demonstration of trust and friendship between the two countries.

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He said the establishment of the Hostmanship Unit, which did not exist just over a year ago, had elevated hostmanship as a core value of the service, and pledged that the unit would build on the support to entrench hostmanship as an institutional culture.

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