The Nigeria Immigration Service has announced that from January 1, 2018, the National Identification Number, issued by the National Identity Management Commission, will be a criteria for the procurement of a Nigerian passport.
Comptroller-General of the NIS, Mr. Mohammed Babandede, disclosed this to State House correspondents after a meeting of database harmonisation committee at the Presidential Villa, Abuja, on Tuesday.
He said, “The biggest problem we are facing is that everybody is deploying his own technology; but harmonisation of data will solve that. We have agreed that from January 1, 2018, anybody who is going to apply for the Nigerian passport, whether renewal or fresh application, must first have a National Identity Number.
“Why we are doing this is that we want to ease process of doing business in Nigeria. There is no need for you to go and have your biometrics captured by the NIMC and then you come and capture again with the Nigeria Immigration Service.
“Once you give us your NIN, we will collect the biometrics from the NIMC and produce your passport.”
This is good initiative but we must first ascertain the level of success NIMC has achieved in distribution of National ID Cards
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