As the new, enhanced electronic international passport comes into effect this April, the National Identity Management Commission (NIMC) and the Nigeria Immigration Service (NIS) have joined forces to implement the mandatory usage of the National Identification Number (NIN) on the travel document.
In effect, no Nigerian shall obtain the new international e-passport, with 10-year validity, without the NIN.
President Muhammadu Buhari, while unveiling the new enhanced e-passport, January 15th, this year, directed that the NIN which is issued by the NIMC be inserted as additional mandatory data in the new passport.
A statement jointly issued by Loveday Ogbonna, Head, Corporate Communications of NIMC, and Sunday James, Service Public Relations Officer of the NIS, explained that to give force to their resolve to implement the mandatory usage of the NIN, particularly on the e-passport, the Comptroller-General of the NIS, Muhammad Babandede, paid a courtesy visit to the Director-General of NIMC, Engr. Aliyu Aziz, March 11, at the Commission’s headquarters where they both discussed the finer details of the collaboration.
The NIMC DG told his guest that the Commission had upgraded its software and infrastructure to ensure generation of the NIN in just microseconds. This means unlike in the past, the NIN is issued instantly to successful enrolees into the National Identity Data Base (NIDB).
“A few months ago, we had an issue that made NIN generation take up to hours and people had to come back the following day. However, right now it is instantaneous and that is the way we intend to maintain the system,” Engr. Aziz said, and added: “The type of Automated Biometric Identification System (ABIS) we utilise makes sure that the NIN is unique – that is our only job.”
The CG NIS commended NIMC for the upgrades, which have resulted in instant and timely allocation of the NIN. He also restated the NIS’s preparedness to accommodate NIMC in all its 44 diplomatic missions abroad and 42 locations in Nigeria to ensure that all Nigerians and legal residents are enrolled into the National Identity Data Base.
“We are ready to provide space for you to operate in our locations to facilitate real time online, integration. If an immigration officer touches the computer, he should be able to connect to NIMC real time, online, get the number (NIN), so that he can issue a passport,” Babandede said.
The NIS CG expressed optimism on the collaboration between both agencies as a test run carried out by the NIS with 1,000 NIN samples to match with 1,000 biometric visas yielded a success rate of 89.4%, which means it is good and that Nigerians are providing accurate information. He also gave assurance that both agencies would continue to work together to ensure that there are no bottlenecks in the process. The DG, NIMC praised the NIS for their relentless commitment to fulfilling the Commission’s mandate, saying for the next three years, NIMC will concentrate on the issuance of the NIN, as it is similar to the social security number in a country like the United States of America and it is mandatory for all government services in the country.