Abuja working towards full passport process digitalisation to eliminate corruption in contact with immigration officers
By Jeph Ajobaju, Chief Copy Editor
Full digitalisation of passport process is expected to be completed by December, to end delay in issuance at home and abroad as well as eliminate corruption embedded in contact with immigration officers.
Interior Minister Rauf Aregbesola disclosed in Abuja the aim is both to fast track the system and eliminate any form of contact between passport applicants and immigration officers.
“We are on it, and by December we will remove any manual processing of passports. Now, we still have some manual parts, because files are still manually opened.
“By December, particularly in the busiest passport processing centres, there will be no manual segment of the passport processing, every part of it will be digitalised, he explained.’’
There is no shortage of passport booklets, he said, and advised applicants to begin the processing of obtaining passport at least six months before the time of travel.
“If you need a passport now, start the process very early, do not begin the processing efforts two weeks before your travel.
“If you don’t, already you have created problems for yourself, because the system, after capturing, which is the enrolment of your data, we harmonise it with the National Identity Management Commission (NIMC) database.’’
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Data hormonisation
Aregbesola urged passport applicants to ensure their names and other data agree with their details on the National Identity database, according to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), as reported by Nairametrics.
“Every identity document must be the same to ease capturing. Even wrong arrangements of names can create delays in the processing of a passport.
“You must understand what it is. It is a presidential order that the new passport regime should be such that all data and everything about you as an individual must be the same and harmonised.
“What you have in the passport, which is the most secured identity document, must be the same with every other aspect of you, whether in the bank or at the national identity database.
“When you come to us to register, after filling your form online, you come for data capturing, and what you do there is to harmonise what you have filed in your form and your biodata as we advance.
“So when your name doesn’t tally with what we have, your data information is not the same on the relevant platforms, we will have some challenges with passport processing.’’
