The Federal Government has said there is no going back on the April 29 date for integration of the National Identity Number (NIN) with the new passport.
Comptroller General of the Nigerian Immigration Service (NIS), Muhammad Babandede, made this known when he paid a courtesy visit to the Director General of the National Identity Management Commission (NIMC), Aliyu Aziz.
NAN reported that the NIS postponed issuance of the new passport from March 4 to April 29.
Babandede said the postponement was to enable the service integrate the new passport with the NIN.
Babandede explained that the postponement was to ensure that every Nigerian, whether resident in the country or abroad, must have NIN before getting the new 10 year improved e-passport.
The CG explained further that NIN is compulsory for every Nigerian; whether resident in the country or abroad.
“The job of the NIS cannot be complete without working with NIMC. The directive from President Muhammadu Buhari is clear; that every person in our territory must have one identity.
“That identity should not conflict with other identity agencies since NIMC is the custodian of the identity of citizens.”
Babandede, however, noted that NIS has shown commitment to implement the president’s directive.
He said with the collaborative efforts between the two agencies, there would be no cases of multiple identity.
“If we work under one ecosystem, this is achievable. Harmonisation of the passport with NIN is not only for security issues but is also a social and developmental issue.
The immigration boss said a test-run had been carried out with 1,000 samples of biometric identity. These biometrics were matched with NIN, with that of passport, and the success recorded was 89.4 per cent.”
Aziz assured Nigerians that the procedure for enrolment of NIN was easy, urging them to utilise the opportunity.
He said the collaboration between the Commission and NIS would be enhanced.
