Agencies of Nigeria’s Interior Ministry:
- Federal Fire Service: April 1963
- Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps: 2003
- Nigeria Immigration Service: August 1, 1963
- The Civil Defence, Immigration, Prisons, Fire Service Board (CDFIPB): July 1986
- Nigerian Correctional Service: 1861
- National Identity Management Commission (NIMC): 2007
NOTE: NIMC was moved from the Ministry of Digital Economy to the Ministry of Interior on Wednesday, September 13, 2023. The minister had said this on September 12, before it was made official on Thursday.
Federal Fire Service
To save lives and property by promptly attending to incidences of fire
Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps
To protect government properties and sensitize Nigerians about internal security
Nigeria Immigration Service
To properly monitor exit and entry of Nigerians and foreigners into Nigeria by granting travel documents
The Civil Defence, Immigration, Prisons, Fire Service Board (CDFIPB)
To appoint, promote and discipline officers of the Services
Nigerian Correctional Service
Formerly known as the Nigerian Prisons Service, the correctional service is to provide safety for inmates and train them to acquire skills and reform them to become better people after their jail terms.
NIMC
It is the role of NIMC to establish, own, operate, maintain and manage the National Identity Database of Nigerians
Who is the Minister of Interior?
The incumbent Minister of Interior is Olubunmi Tunji-Ojo, a former member of the House of Representatives from Ondo State.
He replaces Sa’Idu A. Alkali, who was initially assigned o oversee the ministry. He will resume office on Monday, August 21, 2023.
From internal affairs to the Ministry of Interior, is the ministry that takes care of what happens with Nigeria’s territory, the reason for its name.
It has undergone minor restructuring in the past. For instance, it was merged with the ministry of police affairs in 2007 and before the inauguration of its second term cabinet, President Muhammadu Buhari made Police Affairs an independent ministry.
Origin of the Ministry of Interior:
The government of Tafawa Balewa was first to appoint a Minister of Internal Affairs (now Interior)in 1957 when he inaugurated his first cabinet before independence.
On creation, the ministry was charged with the responsibility of overseeing the internal security of Nigeria, this mandate has been redefined.
8 Core Mandates of Interior Ministry
- Accepting and approving passport application
- Co-ordination of National and Independence Day Celebration
- In charge of recruitment of officers and men of the Prisons Service, Immigration Service, Fire Service and the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps
- Granting Nigerian Citizenship
- Implement policies to reform and re-integrate inmates in Nigeria
- Granting Business Permits and Expatriate Quotas
- Managing the retirement benefits of retirees of Paramilitary Services under its coordination
- To employ, train, promote, and sanction any member of paramilitary under its supervision.
Structure:
The interior ministry can only achieve its mandate through the effective internal working mechanism through the efforts of 12 departments, three units, and six agencies.
Its departments are:
- Human Resource Management
- Planning, Research & Statistics
- Services Inspectorate Department
- Joint Services Department
- Finance & Accounts
- General Services
- Department of Joint Services
- Reform & Coordination
- Procurement
- Legal Services
- Department of Service Inspectorate
- Citizenship & Business
The above departments are complemented by the internal audit unit, press unit, and the anti-corruption and transparency Unit
Contact details of Nigeria’s Ministry of Interior
- Old Federal Secretariat Area 1, Garki Abuja FCT Abuja, Nigeria.
- Official website: interior.gov.ng
- Facebook: @MinOfInteriorNG
- Twitter: @MinOfInteriorNG
- Instagram: @minofinteriorng
Assessment:
Before Olubunmi Tunji-Ojo took over, the ministry was poorly managed. There were incessant jailbreaks.
Correctional centres across Nigeria under were in poor state, insecure and prone to attacks that have led to the illegal release of inmates in the past.
In fact, Nigeria’s Ministry of Interior makes a mockery of itself by the incessant prisons break in Nigeria. In 2021 alone, several inmates were freed by their “outsider criminals. Nigeria’s online newspaper TheCable reported that at least 4,307 inmates had escaped from prisons from 2017 till July 2021.
There was prison breaks in Bauchi where over 700 prisoners escaped, in Shagamu minimum prison in Ogun state similar attack occurred, it’s the same in Olokuta Medium Security Prison in Akure, Ondo State where 175 prisoners escaped. The list is long.
Most times, it takes days for the ministry to release the names of the escaped inmates to aid rearrest.
All the agencies of the ministry of interior have failed including the fire service which complains of scarcity of water whenever there is a case of fire disaster.
Despite Ojo’s great achievement in passport processing, including digitalization of passport processing and online correction on NIMC record, much still need to be done.
For instance, prisons are still overcrowded, inmates are poorly managed, prisons that are meant to reform inmates, most times turn them into hardened criminals
The ministry needs to do more in the acceleration of justice to reduce the number of awaiting trials (which constitute most of the congestion) in correctional centres spread across the country.