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Federal Government to introduce e-passport in 2006
NIGERIA is set to join other technologically developed nations as the country has concluded plans to introduce in 2006, the Biometric Machine Readable Travel Document (BMRTD) otherwise known as electronic passport (e-passport).
Briefing reporters in Lagos at the weekend, Nigerian Immigration Service (NIS) spokesman, Mr. King Ekpedeme said that already, the unit had started sensitising its men to the programme in all the states of the Federation.
The e-passport is a trend that has been adopted in developed countries like the United States of America. United Kingdom and other countries.
"Prior to the arrival of the electronic passport, the Nigerian Immigration High Command has already started training its men on the development. It has held a one day workshop to educate officers and men on the development of biometric technologies in travel documents, modern border control techniques and to prepare them for the introduction of e-passport in 2006."
Ekpedeme said the introduction of e-passport was sequel to the recommendation of International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) and modern trends in immigration.
But the Comptroller-General of Immigration, Mr. Chukwuah Udeh stressed at the workshop: "In line with the global trend, all officers and men of the NIS must be Information Technology (IT) literate or becoming irrelevant to the Nigerian Immigration Service."
He further told his audience, made up of officers from all immigration departments from all over the country:
"Training is the nucleus for professionalism and service delivery. Therefore, apart from the workshop, the service is set to train officers in biometric machine operations, forged document detection techniques and investigation and information gathering techniques."
All deputy Comptrollers-General, assistant Comptroller-General and staff command comptrollers and officers in charge of immigration duties at the international airports were present at the one-day training in Abuja.
The new move by NIS followed President Olusegun Obasanjo's mandate to the new immigration management to introduce more scientific methods to tackle internal security issues.
The next phase of the enlightenment campaign will be for Nigerians who own international passports and prospective owners.
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