FG to Introduce E-gate at International Airports February 2024
The federal government has let his plan to deploy technology to the Nigerian borders and ports of entry at the various international airports across the country.
Topmost in the plan is the introduction of E-gate at the international airports to screen and approve travellers coming into the country by February 2024.
According to the Minister of Interior, Olubunmi Tunji-Ojo, the step is to device solutions to the Nigeria’s lingering insecurity crisis .
“By February, all our international airports will have e-gates
Once you are a Nigerian coming to Nigeria, you have no business seeing an immigration officer except if you are a person of interest.
The minister said: “A secured border is a safe nation. We have understood that now, and there is no going back on that. The president is hell-bent on that; he has given us marching order as ministry of interior to secure these borders. ‘I want these borders secured’. “And, technology, of course, has to be involved, because this is not 2003; this is 2023. So, the role of technology as solution or to enhance delivery, cannot be undermined in whatever we say.
We look at the human intelligence aspect which is very key because you can only protect people as much as they want to be protected. That is just the truth. We saw what happened in Afghanistan, we saw what happened in Iraq, what happened in Libya. If people do not support you, give you the human intelligence that you need, it might be a bit difficult for you to be able to solve problem of insecurity.
Also, the minister said the automation of Nigeria’s passport application is 99 percent completed.
He said the automated application will become operational in a week’s time noting that after completion, Nigerians will only go to immigration centres to do fingerprint biometrics for their passports saying with the new system, Nigerians can upload their passport photographs and other supporting documents from the comfort of their homes.
