The Nigeria Immigration Service, NIS, cleared over 204,332 backlog of passports in 10 months.
The Minister of Inside, Dr Olubunmi Tunji-Ojo, made this recognized whereas reeling out his ministry’s achievements within the final one yr, at a media occasion organised by the ministry on Friday in Abuja.
He mentioned assured Nigerians that by no means once more will there be backlogs of passports in Nigeria, with the reform measure in place.
“Within the final yr, we launched superior border administration applied sciences, together with GIS (Geographic Info Methods) and different surveillance instruments and infrastructure, to reinforce nationwide safety.
“This expertise permits for higher monitoring and management of Nigeria’s in depth borders, guaranteeing that our immigration companies are ready to face fashionable safety challenges.
‘As you might be conscious, we launched into a complete overhaul of the passport issuance course of, addressing long-standing points which have pissed off thousands and thousands of Nigerians.
“One in every of our key accomplishments was clearing a large backlog of 204,332 passport purposes, a backlog that had left many voters stranded for months, if not years,” he mentioned.
He mentioned,”In the present day, I can proudly say that now we have not solely addressed this problem however now we have launched dwelling supply companies for passports.”
Mr Tunji-Ojo mentioned that the innovation was to make sure that Nigerians now not need to endure the stress of touring lengthy distances or ready in lengthy queues all within the identify passport.
“Passports are actually delivered on to the properties of candidates, a service that has introduced immense reduction to hundreds.
“The NIS has additionally applied contactless expertise, streamlining the passport software course of and enhancing total effectivity.
“The times of bottlenecks and infinite paperwork are behind us. In the present day, Nigerians expertise a sooner, extra clear and seamless passport issuance course of.
“We now have additionally established a cutting-edge information centre on the NIS with a formidable storage capability of 1.4 petabytes.
“This state-of-the-art facility is designed to securely home and handle an enormous array of important nationwide info, together with the biometric information and private data of Nigerian residents,” he added.
The minister defined that the efforts have been to make sure the secure storage and retrieval of delicate info and improve the effectivity of nationwide safety operations, identification administration and repair supply throughout the nation.
Mr Tunji-Ojo acknowledged that the Federal Authorities had additionally launched into set up of a complete of 41 e-gates on the 5 worldwide airports throughout the nation for a seamless screening of people who arrived the nation.
Based on him, eight are to be put in on the Nnamdi Azikiwe Worldwide Airport in Abuja, 21 slated for the Murtala Muhammed Worldwide Airport in Lagos, and 4 every at Kano, Enugu, and Port Harcourt airports.
“That is to supply diasporan Nigerians and returning residents an automatic, hassle-free screening course of. This innovation not solely improves effectivity at entry factors but additionally ensures that our residents overseas return dwelling with delight and ease.
“We additionally made large progress in worldwide collaborations by enhancing our partnerships with world businesses to fight transnational crimes comparable to human trafficking, unlawful immigration, and smuggling.
“These partnerships have bolstered our efforts to safeguard nationwide safety whereas contributing to the worldwide combat in opposition to organised crime.
“Moreover, the combination of Nigerian passports into world requirements (ICAO PKD and PKI) have additional solidified the NIS as a key participant on the worldwide stage,” he mentioned.
The minister added that the initiatives have been to reinforce each entry and safety, thereby, making Nigerian passports safer and revered worldwide.
NAN
