By Wale Obanigba, Esq.
Three years after Dr. Olubunmi Tunji-Ojo assumed office as Minister of Interior, the Ministry offers an interesting case study in public-sector reform. Across the institutions under his supervision, there are visible changes in service delivery, technology adoption, institutional renewal and performance management, despite the significant challenges inherited at the beginning of his tenure.
From immigration and border management to correctional services, civil defence and fire safety, the Ministry has increasingly moved beyond routine administration towards a more technology-driven and performance-oriented approach. The reforms and their visibility have also earned the Minister several recognitions, including the Vanguard Newspaper Personality of the Year Award.
Perhaps the most visible transformation has occurred in the Nigeria Immigration Service. Tunji-Ojo’s early intervention in clearing more than 200,000 outstanding passport applications addressed a problem that had become almost normalised.
But the reform did not stop there. Contactless passport renewal for eligible Nigerians abroad, home and office delivery, centralised passport production and the deployment of e-gates at international airports point to a broader shift towards faster and more technology-driven immigration services.
The newly inaugurated Integrated Operations Centre (IOC) of the Nigeria Immigration Service is another significant initiative. The centre strengthens operational coordination, monitoring, intelligence gathering and information management, providing the Service with a more integrated platform for managing immigration and border-security operations.
The significance goes beyond convenience. A modern immigration system must simultaneously improve service delivery, strengthen identity verification and support national security. That connection becomes clearer in the Ministry’s approach to border security and national identity.
Nigeria’s vast and difficult borders cannot be effectively secured through physical surveillance alone. They require technology, intelligence, personnel and inter-agency cooperation.
The integration of immigration information with the National Identification Number system represents an even more strategic development.
The NIMC Act 2026 further strengthens Nigeria’s identity-management architecture around the principle of one person, one identity, one number. This has implications beyond administration. A reliable identity system can strengthen border security, financial inclusion, digital transactions and public administration.
Tunji-Ojo has also disclosed that integrated immigration and identity databases contributed to identifying suspected terrorists returning to Nigeria. If properly sustained, this integration could become one of the Ministry’s most consequential long-term reforms.
The Nigerian Correctional Service presents another important dimension of the reform agenda. For years, overcrowding, awaiting-trial inmates, inadequate facilities and limited rehabilitation opportunities challenged the system. Tunji-Ojo brought decongestion to the centre of national attention, including interventions that enabled indigent inmates unable to pay relatively small fines to regain their freedom.
Beyond decongestion, attention to inmate welfare has also become more visible. The flag-off of 50,000 specialised fibre mattresses for inmates was unprecedented in the history of the Nigerian Correctional Service and represented a significant improvement in basic welfare and living conditions. It underscored the principle that incarceration should not mean the denial of basic human dignity; no inmate should have to sleep directly on the ground.
More importantly, the emphasis has increasingly shifted towards rehabilitation, education, vocational training and reintegration. Digital correctional information systems and improved inmate welfare complement this approach.
Correctional centres should not merely confine offenders. They should help prepare them for responsible return to society. That shift is important because the ultimate measure of correctional reform is not simply how many inmates are released or how facilities are improved, but whether the system reduces reoffending and gives former inmates a realistic pathway back into society.
The Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps has also assumed a stronger role in protecting national assets. The deployment of Mining Marshals against illegal mining is particularly significant. The NSCDC’s protection of pipelines, energy installations and other critical infrastructure similarly reflects a broader understanding of internal security. Protecting Nigeria’s economic resources is itself a security responsibility.
The Federal Fire Service has received greater attention through additional firefighting and rapid-response equipment, improved operational capacity and professional training.
The development of the National Fire Academy at Sheda, Abuja, is particularly important. A capable fire service depends not only on equipment but also on well-trained personnel, effective command structures, rescue capacity and emergency preparedness.
Hopefully, these investments will translate into faster response times, stronger rescue capacity and fewer avoidable losses of lives and property.
These institutional reforms largely rest on people in the system. The promotion of thousands of personnel across the Ministry’s paramilitary services has helped address career progression and morale, while recruitment and welfare remain important priorities.
The Ministry’s emphasis on measurable targets, reflected in the 2026 sectoral performance retreat themed “Accountable Leadership, Measurable Impacts,” also signals a stronger performance-management culture. But technology and new equipment cannot substitute for professional personnel. Sustaining the reforms will therefore require continued investment in training, welfare, ethics and institutional capacity.
Three Years on
A balanced assessment must acknowledge that significant challenges remain. Nigeria still has difficult borders to secure, correctional facilities require further investment, and fire and emergency-response capacity needs continuous strengthening.
The claim, therefore, is not that Tunji-Ojo has solved every problem. The stronger conclusion is that he has changed the direction of the Ministry. It has now become a national reference point in service delivery and border security.
Digital passports, e-gates, integrated databases, biometric verification, correctional rehabilitation, critical infrastructure protection and modern emergency response now form part of the Ministry’s reform conversation.
Clearing passport backlogs, procuring equipment, deploying technology and promoting personnel are outputs. Their significance will be determined by whether citizens experience faster services, stronger security, better correctional outcomes and more effective emergency response. This is where the next phase of the reform agenda must concentrate.
Beyond the introduction of reforms is their institutionalisation. The Ministry must protect citizens’ data, continuously upgrade its technology, maintain professional standards and ensure that personnel welfare keeps pace with institutional expectations.
Most importantly, these reforms must become bigger than the individual who initiated them. Can the reforms survive the minister who introduced them?
A successful reform programme should outlive the tenure of its architect. Its systems should become institutional practice; its technology should remain functional; its performance standards should become routine; and its gains should be measurable by citizens and not merely by government announcements.
Three years on, the Ministry of Interior is not a finished reform story. It is, however, a Ministry in transition. One increasingly driven by technology, accountability and measurable performance.
Perhaps that is the real achievement. Moving the conversation from what government promises to what it can demonstrate it has delivered. The task now is to ensure that the momentum continues and that today’s reforms become tomorrow’s institutional standards.
That is when reform becomes transformation.
Wale Obanigba writes from Akure.
