FG launches e-Passport centre in Canada

The Federal Government has unveiled an enhanced e-Passport facility at the Nigerian High Commission in Ottawa, Canada, as part of efforts to make Passport processing and acquisition seamless for Nigerians in the diaspora.

Commissioning the facility on Tuesday, the Minister of Interior, Rauf Aregbesola said the new passport satisfies all the standards set out by the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), which according to him is why the international organization has come to regard Nigeria with great esteem.

He noted that Nigeria is the first country in Africa and fifth in the world to embrace this new technological feat. He also restated the Federal Government’s commitment to citizens’ diplomacy especially in the area of improving services to the diaspora community.

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“Needless to mention that Nigeria was recently re-elected into the ICAO Public Key Directory (PKD) Board for the fourth time, back to back. This is an eloquent testimony of the Federal Government’s commitment to global best practices in passport regulations” the Minister was quoted saying in a statement on Wednesday by Tony Akuneme, spokesperson of the Nigeria Immigration Service.

In his remarks, the Comptroller General of Service, Isah Kere Idris, stated that with the roll-out of the enhanced travel document, cases of delays in processing Passports in Canada will be taken care of provided applicants abide strictly with the application guidelines including ensuring that they make use of the online application and payment platform (passport.immigration.gov.ng), as well as synchronizing the data in their passport application with the information in their NIN (National Identification
Number).

He said the travel document comes in three categories which are; the 32-page Five-year validity category; the 64-page Five-year validity category and; 64-page Ten-year validity category (adults only).

The CGI revealed that the enhanced e-Passport is of polycarbonate data page and has additional 25 security features over the current electronic Plpassport. He assured all Passport applicants who had earlier been enrolled on the old platform that they will receive their Passports as soon as possible as enough booklets are available.