By Tabora Bojang
The Gambia Immigration Department has yesterday announced that the eighth annual meeting of the heads of immigration from Ecowas states will be held in Banjul from 23-24 September.
Disclosing this at a media briefing, the GID director general Ebrima Mboob said the Banjul convergence will be organised under the theme; “acceleration of the development of the Ecowas National Biometric Identity Card and abolition of the 90 days stay limit or Residence Permit.”
“It will avail opportunities for sub regional Immigration chiefs to exchange experiences, information, good practices and adopt common positions to address immigration and border management challenges in West Africa,” DG Mboob said.
“We are going to discuss issues relating to movement, relating to entry, relating to establishment of each community citizen in another country. We are a community and we can all refer back to history that Africa should be united and we cannot be united when there are borders between us. The dream is for us to embrace and it is important we come up with measures that will keep us together as community citizens,” DG Mboob stated.
He thanked the government of the Gambia for immensely supporting the GID in hosting this event, which according to him will offer a good opportunity of having a better understanding of how to overcome challenges that hamper regional integration, development and the free movement of persons.
