Chapter one Introduction
Migration has become a major global phenomenon in recent decades. As well as permanent migrants and their families there are seasonal and temporary workers, frontier workers, illegal immigrants and asylum‑seekers. In Africa the traditional movement of traders and seasonal workers has been obscured by the large number of refugees from political conflict. In Asia there has been temporary migration from the Indian subcontinent to meet the labour shortages of the Middle East. In Europe the long established migration patterns from ex‑colonies to the UK and France, and of Turks to Germany, has been supplemented by new flows into the traditional countries of emigration such as Italy, Spain and Portugal. At the same time the political changes in Central and Eastern Europe have created new and substantial immigration pressures upon the Community.
For the developing countries, from which these immigrants principally come, these outflows usually offer significant economic advantages. Faced with high rates of population growth and limited employment creation immigration offers a safety valve. Remittances can be a significant source of foreign exchange, while returning migrants may bring capital and skills to foster economic growth. Only the loss of any scarce skilled and qualified labour may inhibit their economic development. From a global perspective economic analysis would see such movements of labour as yielding the same global welfare maximization that arises from the free movement of capital and of free trade. However immigration is determined not just by economic forces but also by political decision making. It is the receiving countries whose immigration policies determine the scale of immigration flows and therefore it is their national economic evaluation of the costs and benefits that is central to understanding this phenomenon. The intention of this paper is to bring economic welfare analysis to bear on this issue from the narrower perspective of these receiving countries.
This analysis will be placed in the context of the EU experience. The establishment of the free movement of labour under the Single European Act and the first stages in the creation of a borderless Europe under the Schengen agreement have brought to the fore the issue of external immigration into the European Union. Inevitably it is being recognized that there is a need to establish a common EU immigration policy to replace fragmented and inconsistent national regimes.
Background study of NIS
The Nigeria Immigration
Service (NIS) has witnessed series of changes since it was extracted from the
Nigeria Police Force (NPF) in 1958. The Immigration Department as it was known
then, was entrusted with the core Immigration duties under the headship of the
Chief Federal Immigration Officer (CFIO). The department in its embryo
inherited the Immigration Ordinance of 1958 for its operation. At inception the
department had a narrow operational scope and maintained a low profile and
simple approach in attaining the desired goals and objectives of the government.
During this period, only the Visa and Business Sections were set up.
On August 1st, 1963, Immigration Department came of age when it was formally
established by an Act of Parliament (Cap 171, Laws of the Federation Nigeria).
The head of the Department then was the Director of Immigration. Thus, the
first set of Immigration officers were former NPF officers. It became
a department under the control and supervision of the Federal Ministry of
Internal Affairs (FMIA) as a Civil Service outfit.
- Statement of Problems
The use of information systems in enhancing business operation both by the government and private investors cannot be over emphasized. Information systems have permeated several spheres of human endeavour and cannot be overlooked. In our research, we try to investigate immigration systems and how information systems can be used to help improve immigration operations.
1.2 Aim and Objectives
The study is aimed at investigate information systems as applied in immigration control. Other objectives include:Â Â Â
- Explore and exploit problems with the existing information system,
- Provide alternative solution the problems, and
- Make recommendations on a framework for implementing the new system.
