Morovia – Twenty officers from the Bureau of Immigration and Naturalization (BIN) and Liberia Revenue Authority (LRA) Custom Regulators have completed a month long training in border management and custom regulations.
Report by Willie N. Tokpah – [email protected]
The border management and custom regulation training was intended to help erect a checkpoint to difficulties faced by these institutions in handling border management and custom regulations in Liberia.
The training is in line with the Liberia BIN strategic in securing various entry points to the country amidst information that only few of the country’s borderlines are managed by relevant security apparatus responsible.
The BIN disclosed early May, 2016 that there are 156 entry points to the country but only 59 of these entries are secured by Immigration along with other security agencies.
According to one of the beneficiaries told FrontPage Africa that the Liberian government selected 10 officers from each institution to undergo the training.
They will in return provide capacity building for other officers when they return.
“These officers will train others officers to enhance the border activities,” the officer who preferred anonymity said.
BIN is responsible for border regulation across Liberia while custom is clothed with the responsibility of custom regulation at various entry points.
The two institutions work in collaboration to ensure proper border management and revenue collection for the Liberian government.
The BIN had been faced with some difficulties, thus complaining of not being equipped to track down harmful substances such as drugs and illegal entries, amongst other.
The 20 officers were reportedly trained in the use of fire arm while on duty at various border points in Liberia.
The officer who spoke with FrontPageAfrica from Italy, however, called on the Liberian government to consider a salary raise for security officers to make the sector attractive and respectable.
“This is necessary because we can be assigned in the forest with small salary while others are making good salary more than us,” he said.