When I get overbearing at home, my husband calls me to order, says Immigration boss Uzoma

You are a graduate of Sociology from the University of Ibadan. Whats your background before then? I will like to start with my childhood, I was born to Reverend Ezekiel  and  Mrs Cecilia Uzuh in 1953. I grew up in the village and had part of my early life in Port Harcourt.  Basically my father […]

You are a graduate of Sociology from the University of Ibadan. Whats your background before then?

I will like to start with my childhood, I was born to Reverend Ezekiel  and  Mrs Cecilia Uzuh in 1953. I grew up in the village and had part of my early life in Port Harcourt.  Basically my father was a Reverend Minister of the Methodist Church. We moved from place to place because of my father’s missionary work in the then  Eastern Central  State.

Like any other village child, I had a humble beginning. Luckily I was able to distinguish myself academically. After my primary school in the village, between 1959 and 1965, I got a scholarship to study at Queens College, Enugu, from 1966 to 1971 which was a prestigious school those days. People of my parents’ economic status were not able to send their children to such school, but government scholarship paved the way for me.

From there, in 1973, I moved on to Oliveth High School, Oyo where I obtained my Higher School Certificate.  I went to the University of Ibadan in 1974 where I graduated with a B.Sc in Sociology in 1978.

I am married with   three children: a boy and two girls. They have all graduated, but none of them studied Sociology. My last child graduated recently.

What made you choose this career of immigrations?

Those days we didn’t have much knowledge  about career oportunities, but from our background as sociologists we were only thinking of working as social welfare officers. During my National Youths Service, I served in that capacity in the ministry in Minna, Niger State in 1979. However I think the immigration job was designed for me by God because I never applied for it. A colleague of mine in school saw the vacancies at immigration, applied and submitted the form for me. That was how I ended up in the immigration service in 1980 and became Comptroller General on 30th July, 2010.

Any awards or other achievements to distinguish yourself?

Well, in all modesty I only have an OON, and I’m a fellow of the African Business School, Eastern Women.

How did you cope with the tedious nature of recruitment  at the service, especially since you got the job by chance?

When I got the appointment into the service, the first thing I did was to visit an immigration office to see what it was all about and I liked what I saw. From there I went for training and it was not as tedious as it is today. We were more or less pioneer officers. We were trained at Prisons Training School, the exercises were normal, just marching and more of academic. We didnt even learn how to fire a weapon in those days. It was much later in my career that I learnt how to handle guns. My training was very convenient for me.

What is your answer to the allegation that one has to know someone in the system to get an e-passport?

I think that is far from the truth. There is no way you can get the e- passport through proxy, you need to present yourself for processing.

For you to get the e-passport you start from the banks and cybercafe because we wanted to distance ourselves from the people.  We didnt want our officers  handling money. All you have to do is apply online, make your payments in the bank and come to the immigration service with your documents. You dont need to know anybody. Even the interview date is generated online, so on the appointment date you come to immigration.

My number and numbers of other immigration officers are on the internet. As you want to pay online you will see them and call if you have any problem.

How do you deal with cases where machines fail due to the high rate of passports produced?

Actually, machines wear out. The renewal of the maintenance agreement with our technical partners was delayed due to elections and changes from one minister to the other. The equipments were supposed to have been changed a long time ago, but thank God, just yesterday (5th May 2011) the contract was renewed and signed, any moment from now the equipments will be changed.

Many women still believe that you are in a job dominated by the male folk. What is your comment?

Really, it’s not a traditional female job, but if you join the system early, you get schooled in it. It’s a system that you grow with. It doesn’t take anything away from your feminity, especially considering the fact that I joined with a degree.

So I advise women to join the service. It’s a very good job, considering the exposure it gives you. The only thing a woman will miss in this job is not wearing your fine clothes because you are going to wear the uniform to work for many years and styling your hair would not be an easy job due to the fact that you are always wearing your beret.

How was it growing up and how will you compare the values of today and those days?

During our time,not  many people had televisions and there was no access to the Internet, so children were only faced with