The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) on Monday moved swiftly to contain a growing media narrative that had drawn the Comptroller-General of the Nigeria Immigration Service (NIS), Kemi Nandap, into the anti-graft agency’s expanding investigation into visa racketeering.
In a statement issued through its head of media and publicity, Dele Oyewale said the commission was aware of media reports about alleged visa racketeering involving some NIS officers, particularly what it called “subtle insinuations” about an assumed investigation of Nandap herself.
The commission was unambiguous in its denial: “The Commission wishes to state unequivocally that it has no case with the Immigration CG.”
The clarification did not, however, amount to a blanket denial that trouble is brewing within the NIS. The EFCC confirmed that there are subsisting cases of alleged visa fraud against some immigration officers already before the Federal High Court and cautioned that the net could widen.
According to the commission, investigations are continuing and could result in the arraignment of more officers over alleged fraudulent practices in the weeks ahead.
On Nandap, specifically, the agency was emphatic: the Comptroller-General “is not remotely connected to these investigations.” The EFCC used the opportunity to press the media for greater caution, appealing to journalists and news organizations to always seek clarification on its activities to avoid misrepresenting facts.
The commission’s statement was a direct response to an investigative report published days earlier by THISDAY, which painted a picture of a sprawling, long-running extortion scheme inside the immigration service.
That report alleged that at least five serving officers, including a deputy comptroller of immigration, had been questioned in connection with an alleged visa-overstay racket that investigators believe may have been running for years.
Central to the allegations is a financial trail that reporters described as unusually large for mid-level civil servants: investigators are said to have traced roughly N700 million to one suspect’s account, alongside properties worth billions of naira allegedly acquired through third parties.
Media reports placed the alleged scheme within the context of Nigeria’s revamped immigration penalty regime under the Nigeria Visa Policy 2025; foreigners who overstay their visas are required to pay $15 for every day of overstay, and investigators are reportedly examining whether that official penalty system was being quietly bypassed in favor of unofficial, off-the-books payments pocketed by officers.
The alleged racket is said to span some of the country’s busiest points of entry, with immigration operations at Lagos’s Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Abuja’s Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, and the NIS headquarters in Abuja all reportedly under scrutiny, with several named officers, including an aide attached directly to the comptroller-general’s office, said to have been quizzed.
A parallel account carried by Daily Post went further, reporting that sources within the EFCC described the scheme as one that has persisted across several previous NIS administrations but only recently surfaced, allegedly built around extorting foreigners who had overstayed their visas in exchange for being allowed to remain in the country unofficially.
That report also noted that investigators are said to be examining whether the Comptroller-General personally benefited from the scheme, given that several of the officers under scrutiny reportedly work closely with her office, a detail that appears to explain why her name became entangled in public discussion of the case in the first place and one that stands in some tension with the EFCC’s categorical denial.
No formal allegation has been publicly established against Nandap, and the EFCC has not named her a suspect or filed any charge against her. One of the officers implicated, identified as CSI O. Babatunde, had denied wrongdoing.
For now, the EFCC’s position is that its prosecutorial focus remains on the officers already facing charges at the Federal High Court, with the possibility of further arraignments as the investigation progresses.
Whether public scrutiny of Nandap’s proximity to the implicated officers fades in light of Monday’s statement or intensifies as the case moves through the courts is likely to depend on what, if anything, emerges from the EFCC’s continuing inquiries into how deeply the alleged racket runs and who, ultimately, it benefited.
WHAT YOU SHOULD KNOW
The EFCC has publicly cleared Immigration Comptroller-General Kemi Nandap of any involvement in its visa racketeering probe, even as it confirms the investigation itself is real, active, and expanding with several NIS officers already facing charges and more arraignments possible.
While the EFCC insists Nandap is untouched by the case, several of the officers under investigation reportedly work directly within her office, and some sources say investigators are examining whether she personally benefited a detail the commission’s statement doesn’t fully put to rest.
The officers are in serious trouble; whether that trouble stops at their level remains an open question.
