The Nigeria immigration Service (NIS) has said it no one can obtain that new national passport that would be launched on Tuesday without the National Identification Number (NIN).
To enable the new passport capture the National Identification Number of application, NIS has synchronized its system with that of the National Identity Management Commission (NIMC).
Speaking at the weekend during a pre-launch meeting with the officials of the agency in Lagos, the Comptroller General of Immigration (CGI), Muhammad Babandede explained that the newly enhanced 10-year validity passport is more secure than the previous passports, which would be done away with soon.
Babandede stresses the imperative of every Nigerian to the National Identification Number in order to obtain the new passport.
According to the Comptroller General, the old passport and the new one will be running concurrently, so as to provide for over 25,000 applicants who had paid for the old passports, which are still being produced concurrently with the new passports.
He said the new E-passport would attract a different price from the old one.
According to him, the 64-page 10-year passport will be restricted to adults (18years and above) and will cost N70, 000, excluding bank charges; 32-page five year standard passport is N25, 000 and 64-page five year standard passport goes for N35,000, all excluding bank charges.
He explained that the reason why applicants under 18 years would not obtain the 10-year standard passport is because under 18 years, the appearance of people could change and would no more reflect the image in the passport.
Babandede warned personnel of the Service against corruption and sharp practices in issuing the new passport.
He charged them to avoid aiding and abetting service seekers in the procurement of breeder documents for NIS facilities; noting that doing so is culpable by the Immigration Act 2015.
Babandede also called on the Immigration officials to comply with the Executive Order 01 on Transparency and Ease of Doing Business, stating that NIS as an elite Service must contribute its quota to the economic development of the country through facilitation of corrupt-free atmosphere for Direct Foreign Investment (DFI).
He reiterated that fofficers must change their attitude towards service delivery as President Muhmmadu Buhari’s government has provided enabling environment for the Service to discharge its responsibilities without let or hindrance. Hence, Service must imbibe the principle of “Hostmanship” which enjoins service providers to treat customers as their guests.
Bandede therefore encouraged Immigration officials to take advantage of facilities provided by the agency to build their capacity especially on ICT because Immigration would soon start conducting e-base promotion exercise.
