From Isaac Anumihe, Abuja
As part of efforts to make passport processing and acquisition seamless for Nigerians in the diaspora, the
Federal Government, yesterday, unveiled the enhanced e-Passport facility at the Nigerian High Commission in Ottawa, Canada.
Commissioning the facility, the Minister of Interior, Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola stated the Federal Government’s commitment to citizens’ diplomacy
especially in the area of improving services to the diaspora community.
He said the new passport satisfies all the standards set out by the
International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), which is why the international
organization has come to regard Nigeria with great esteem, stressing that
Nigeria is the first country in Africa and fifth in the world to embrace the new
technological feat.
“Needless to mention that Nigeria was recently re-elected into the ICAO Public Key Directory (PKD) Board for the fourth time, back to back. This is an eloquent testimony of the Federal Government’s commitment to global best practice” he said.
In his remarks, the Comptroller General of Nigeria Immigration Service, Isah
Jere Idris, stated that with the roll-out of the enhanced travel document, cases
of delays in processing passports in Canada will be taken care of provided
applicants abide strictly with the application guidelines including ensuring that
they make use of the online application and payment platform
(passport.immigration.gov.ng), as well as synchronizing the data in their application with the information in their NIN (National Identification
Number).
Idris revealed that the travel document comes in three categories which include a
32-page five-year validity category, 64-page five-year validity category and 64-page ten-year validity category (adults only).
The CGI revealed that the enhanced e-Passport is of polycarbonate data
page and has additional 25 security features over the current electronic
passport.
He assured all passport applicants who had earlier been enrolled on the old
platform that they will receive their passports as soon as possible as enough
booklets are available.
The immigration chief enjoined those who have any complaints, to use the following channels
in resolving any issue:
Twitter.….@nigimmigration;
Facebook….@nigimmigration;
.www.immigration.gov.ng to interact and chat with our virtual
assistant;
[email protected],
[email protected],
or better still call +16132360521-3
.” With this roll-out, our Passport Issuing Desk in Canada has joined their UK
and USA counterparts as part of the foreign centres that have been
successfully migrated to the enhanced e-Passport regime” the CGI noted.