| UNMIL Constructs Regional Immigration Office In Bomi-As BIN Yearns For More Training, Assistance |
| Published on March 27, 2007 | Email To Friend Print Version
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By: Rudolph G. Gborkeh
UNMIL, the United Nations Mission in Liberia has turned over to authorities at the Bureau of Immigration and Naturalization (BIN) a six-room regional office building in Tubmanburg, the capital of Bomi County.
The building’s fund were provided by UNMIL’s Quick Impact Project and implemented by Tecurd, Inc. At the dedicatory ceremony in Tubmanburg over the weekend, UNMIL’s Officer in Charge, Amb. Jordan Ryan indicated that the effectiveness of Liberia’s border lies with the BIN and as such there is a need to revamp the capacity of the Bureau, as the country makes tremendous headways towards peace and stability.
Also speaking at the ceremony, BIN’s Deputy Commissioner for Administration, Col. Archie P. Williams, asserted that the 14 years war left an indelible mark on all sphere of the Liberian society of which the Bureau of Immigration is an integral part. The perpetual and visual circle of the war left almost all BIN’s installation in shamble, he said.
Col. Williams furthered that “the Liberian government is faced with an enormous challenge of human and infrastructural development and it is in this regard that UNMIL, through its Quick Impact Project, has undertaken this segment of our reconstruction drive to construct a regional headquarters for Region II in Tubmanburg…”
Lauding UNMIL for the job well done, the BIN’s Deputy Boss furthered appealed for more assistance to the Bureau, adding that, “the more equip the Bureau is the effective her constitutional mandate will be (carried out), because all our civil crisis emanated from the borders.”
Col. Williams who deputized for BIN’s acting Commissioner, Abla Williams, noted that the Commission will adequately equip and train its personnel to guard the 176 entry borders of which 36 are presently being protected by BIN, leaving the rest porous and at the mercy of misdeeds.
He stressed that if the borders are not protected, gains made by UNMIL in bringing peace to Liberia will be of no significance, because unscrupulous individuals might once again take advantage of the situation to rain havoc on the Liberian people.
“With our infrastructures reconstructed, effective and efficient training package put in place and the re-equipment of the Bureau, the porous borders will be manned to curtail the illegal movement of people and goods, Col. Williams asserted.”
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