President Muhammadu Buhari, has approved the Nigerian Security Printing and Minting Company (NSPMC), as sole authority to produce and personalise all Nigerian E-passports and related documentation.
Special Adviser to the President on Media and Publicity, Femi Adesina, in a statement said, with the new directive, all existing memoranda of understanding and contracts on printing by other institutions/ companies will not be renewed.
The benefits of the new directive include boost of national security and integrity, conservation of scarce foreign exchange, improvement of revenue generation, creation of job opportunities, and boosting acquisition/transfer of technology. Popularly known as The Mint, the company was established in 1963 with the objective of producing the nation’s currency notes and coins for the Central Bank of Nigeria as well as security documents for Ministries, Departments and Agencies of government, banks and other blue chip companies.
The Mint is the largest banknote and security documents specialist printing company in West Africa, although its performance dwindled rapidy in the recent past with respect to both currency production and security documents rollout prior to 2014.