The Minister of Interior, Olubunmi Tunji-Ojo, revealed on Tuesday that Nigeria’s passport application process is now 99% automated, News About Nigeria gathered.
In an interview on Channels Television’s Politics Today, the minister stated that the automated application would become operational within a week.
Tunji-Ojo explained that with the completion of this automation, Nigerians would only need to visit immigration centers for fingerprint biometrics for their passports.
He emphasised the convenience of the new system, allowing citizens to upload passport photographs and supporting documents from their homes.
“We gave a date — December 2023. We are 99 percent done. In fact, we have done the testing and we should be going live in the next week or thereabouts,” he said.
“This will ensure that what Nigerians need to do at an immigration centre is just fingerprint biometrics.
“Everything regarding pre-biometrics will be done in the comfort of your homes, including uploading passport photographs and supporting documents.
“They will have gone live about two weeks ago but I saw some errors when they came to do the presentation and I said no. We were talking about balancing national security and convenience.”
The minister highlighted the importance of balancing national security with convenience.
The new system aims to streamline the pre-biometrics process, making it more efficient and accessible for citizens.
Tunji-Ojo also announced plans to install e-gate systems at international airports across Nigeria by February 2024.
He explained that these e-gates would eliminate the need for Nigerian travelers to interact with immigration officers unless flagged as a person of interest.
“By February, all our international airports will have e-gates. Once you are a Nigerian coming to Nigeria, you have no business seeing an immigration officer except if you are a person of interest,” he added.
