The recently finished Data Personalization Center at the Nigeria Immigration Service NIS Headquarters in Abuja has been hailed as a “game-changer” for the country’s passport production system by Interior Minister Dr. Olubunmi Tunji-Ojo.
The Minister stated during the inspection that the center will shorten response times because passports may be printed in a day and delivered in a week.
According to him, the center will be Nigeria’s first world-class centralized passport personalization facility since the NIS was established in 1963, on par with those in the US, UK, France, Russia, India, and Bangladesh.
He claims that the new approach eliminates the existing setup, which involved personalizing passports in roughly 96 locations both domestically and overseas. He called this model “vulnerable and inefficient.”
Because it guarantees better quality, better control, and greater efficiency, centralization is a worldwide best practice. We made a commitment to Nigerians to centralize the manufacture and personalization of passports, and I’m happy to say that this initiative is now completely completed.
The Minister disclosed that the NIS can now supply between 4,500 and 5,000 passports in a typical weekday because the new facility can now create roughly 1,000 passports per hour, whereas the old equipment could only process 250 to 300 passports per machine daily.
“As a result, applicants who have their requests approved can now anticipate having their passports printed in a day,” he continued.
With the assistance of technical partner Iris Smart Technologies, Tunji-Ojo announced the unification of Nigeria’s two passport series into a single regime, highlighting additional revisions.
The minister also highlighted that Nigeria has completely switched to the ICAO Public Key Directory, which is used by the International Civil Aviation Organization to authenticate travel papers worldwide.
“This has greatly enhanced the integrity and international legitimacy of our passport,” he stated.
The Minister further emphasized that the new system removes these difficulties by automating personalization and minimizing human participation, despite the government inheriting a backlog of 204,000 passport applications.
“This project guarantees the end of the backlog period. Officers are no longer required to put in endless hours to process a mountain of applications. He promised that the system is now quick, easy, and accountable.
Tunji-Ojo expressed gratitude to the Comptroller-General of Immigration, the Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Interior, NIS officers, and technical partners for their contributions to the project’s realization, as well as to President Bola Tinubu for his steadfast support.
He pointed out that by cutting waiting times from weeks to hours, the Service’s initiatives had a direct effect on the public. “We are already working towards achieving one week or less; we promised two weeks’ delivery,” he stated.
The Minister claims that the centralized personalization center is a significant turning point in the government’s continuous changes in national identity management, efficiency, and service delivery.
