The Nigeria Immigration Service (NIS) Muritala Mohammed International Airport Command, has decried the high rate of indebtedness by airlines. The command is therefore seeking permission of the Immigration High Command to withdraw passenger clearance of debtor airlines as done in April 2013.

Comptroller of Immigration, MMIA, Mrs. Chizoba Dibi, who spoke at the weekend lamented that the command was being owed $1, 170, 000 as carrier liabilities by various airlines.

Dibi, who spoke when the Comptroller-General of Immigration, Martins Abeshi, visited the command, said from January to December, 2014, airlines owed the command $654, 000 and that the figure had doubled.

She disclosed that in 2014, the command processed 1, 294, 010 arrivals and 1, 491, 448 departures while between January and August this year, 665, 450 and 755, 817 passengers arrived and departed the airport respectively.

She added that from January to August, 2015, the command recorded 3, 102 regular deportees, 508 special deportees, five repatriated foreigners and 1, 420 Nigeria returnees while 353 and 147 were refused departure and admission respectively.

According to her, departure clearance for pilgrims to Mecca is ongoing with 6, 967 airlifted so far in 26 flights. She listed challenges confronting the command to include inadequate office space, lack of funds to run the command and transportation.

"I am aware of the challenges of this airport and other immigration formations which have to do with vehicles, office space, embarkation and disembarkation cards, communication gadgets and others. However, we shall endeavour to solve some of these problems with the available funds at our disposal while we appeal to stakeholders to extend assistance to us using the corporate social responsibility platform. It is important that in providing all these items with our scarce resources, officers and men appreciate our efforts and ensure that the items are used appropriately as well as maintained properly," she said.