Automation of Nigeria’s passport application is near completion and will be operational in a week time, the Minister of Interior, Mr. Olubunmi Tunji-Ojo, has announced.
The minister made the announcement on Tuesday during an interview session on Politics Today, a Channels Television programme.
According to him, the automation of Nigeria’s passport application was 99 per cent completed.
He said with the automation, it would be possible for Nigerians to upload their passport photographs and other relevant documents without necessarily leaving their houses.
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He said the only thing that would make anyone visit immigration centres was fingerprint biometrics.
His words: “We gave a date — December 2023. We are 99 per cent done. In fact, we have done the testing and we should be going live in the next week or thereabouts.
“This will ensure that what Nigerians need to do at an immigration centre is just fingerprint biometrics.
“Everything regarding pre-biometrics will be done in the comfort of your homes, including uploading passport photographs and supporting documents.
“They will have gone live about two weeks ago but I saw some errors when they came to do the presentation and I said no. We were talking about balancing national security and convenience.”
The minister also disclosed that e-gate systems would be installed at international airports in the country by February 2024.
He said with the system, “Once you are a Nigerian coming to Nigeria, you have no business seeing an immigration officer except if you are a person of interest.”
