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President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo has assured Ghanaians of his determination to ensure that the open-border policy adopted by his government in June this year does not undermine the economy.

According to the President, a fundamental part of government’s strategy for growth has been to associate Ghana strongly with the process of regional and continental integration, and it is for this reason that the government has taken the decision to open Ghana’s borders to operate 24/7 to boost trade and tourism for the country to reap economic benefits.

Government, the President noted, is mindful of the security threats and challenges this policy may bring, especially with the growing threat of terrorism in the region.

He, therefore, assured that the country’s security agencies have been put on high alert and are co-ordinating effectively with its neighbours to keep their respective countries safe.

President Akufo-Addo made these declarations when he delivered a speech at the Ghana Immigration Service (GIS) Cadet intake IX Parade at the Immigration Academy and Training School, at Assin Fosu.

In recent years, the President noted, issues of migration have taken centre stage in national, regional, continental and global discussions, and these issues have cost Presidents and Prime Ministers elections, and brought in new leaders in some countries as a result.

“Immigration has been tied to global security, especially within the growing threats of terrorism. The fear of attacks is driving a growing link between anti-terror measures and immigration policy. At the same time, immigration has been proven to be a strong developmental tool of many countries, playing key roles in the rapid expansion of their economies,” he observed.

It is for this reason, he stressed, that in the 2016 Manifesto of the New Patriotic Party, the party assured that if it won the election, “we will offer extensive training in specialist areas in the growing areas of crime detection and prevention, customer service relations, and trends in global cross-border crimes and anti-terrorism tactics.

“We will also provide modern and strategic equipment to make them more efficient, as well as offering competitive remuneration to enable the service attract the best personnel.”

The President mentioned that recent happenings worldwide place immigration control as a critical conduit in security and intelligence gathering, and the GIS needs officers with a high sense of commitment, integrity and professionalism.

“You should count yourselves privileged to be commissioned at this time to join a team of leaders who are poised to take the GIS a step further towards its quest to deliver excellence in migration management for national development, he added.

He congratulated the graduating officers for the successful completion of the six-month training programme, and advised them to rise above mediocrity and discharge their duties with distinction and serve diligently in any capacity they find themselves in.

The graduands were taken through courses in Refugees Asylum and Regional Integration, Terrorism, Professional Ethics, Border Management, Immigration Laws and Practice, Client Relations, Basic Intelligence, Document Fraud Detection, ECOWAS Protocol, among others.

Awards were presented to Cadet Officers who distinguished themselves during the training programme, with Cadet Officer Yaw Brobbey-Kyeremanteng emerging as the overall best Cadet.