Nigeria To Begin Local Production Of E-passports

The Comptroller-General of the Nigeria Immigration Service (NIS), Muhammad Babandede, has said there are plans to produce Nigerian e-passports in the country.

Babandede disclosed this on Thursday in Abuja when members of the House of Representatives Committee on Interior came on an oversight visit.

He said the immigration service was working with the Federal Government to ensure the production of e-passports through the Nigerian Security Printing and Minting Company Ltd. by 2018.

The comptroller-general said that the measure was to save cost, ‎ ensure security of critical data base, and create more jobs for Nigerians.

He added that the Minister of Interior has set up a committee to ensure that the plan is successful.

The Chairman, House Committee on Interior, Adams Jagaba, condemned the use of foreign companies for the production of the passport and other services.

Jagaba said the foreign companies “go away with more than 70 per cent of the revenue generated from the production of the document while the federal government takes less than 30 per cent. ‎”