Comptroller-General, of the Nigeria Immigration Service NIS Isah Idris, has inaugurated the enhanced e-passport office in Zaria, Kaduna state towards reducing delays in the processing and issuance of passports to prospective applicants.
The Comptroller-General who said with the inauguration of the facility, Zaria had now joined other centers in the country and abroad to have enhanced e-passports also approved the passport production machine to be hosted in Zaria.
Idris explained that the enhanced e-passport being rollout comes in three categories; the 32-page five-year validity 64-page five validity and 64-page 10-year validity for adults only.
He added that the enhanced e-passport had more sophisticated security features than the ordinary e-passport making it one of the most secure passports in the world.
He added that the enhanced e-passport and ordinary e-passport would run concurrently until a convenient time when all NIS centers would have been fully migrated.
“As we roll out the enhanced e-passport document today, we are confident that all cases of delays in processing passport will be taken care of,’’ he emphasized.
Idris, therefore, advised applicants to abide strictly by the application guidelines and ensure that they make use of the online application and payment platform thus www.passport.immigration.gov.ng
The Comptroller said it was equally important for passport applicants to ensure that they confirm that their NIN details were the same as the passport application details to avoid mismatch.
In a remark, the Emir of Zazzau, Malam Ahmed Bamalli said the establishment of a passport office in Zaria would stop residents of Zaria and its environs from traveling to Kaduna or Kano to get the passport.
The royal father, therefore, commended the service for the project and prayed for the organization to prosper.
He also commended Governor Nasir el-Rufai for allocating land for the project a few days before the commencement of the project; “Your Excellency, this is unprecedented’’.
“this is one of the legacies of our administration for me as an Emir; for you as a governor of Kaduna state and for the C-G as Comptroller General of Immigration,’’ he said.
Earlier, Gov. Nasir el-Rufai said it was a great pleasure for me to be here and join you in the commissioning of the enhanced passport office; the first of its kind outside the state capital throughout Nigeria for Zaria.
He said noted that Kaduna state was blessed to be the only state with two cities (Zaria and Kaduna) and that was among the 10 most populous cities in Nigeria.
“This is part of the reason why we made the case that Zaria needs its own passport office in addition to the one in Kaduna.
“ I am very grateful to the Minister for seeing the logic and encouraging the establishment of this office first as a front office but with our brother being the C-G
“We are grateful to President Muhammadu Buhari for giving one of our sons the opportunity to head the NIS, a son of Kaduna state was also the head of FRSC,’’ el’rufai stressed.
Cov/Ibrahim Suleiman
