By Maina Maina
The Nigeria Immigration Service (NIS) has unveiled an enhanced e-Passport Production Centre in Kaduna, Kaduna State.
At the official commissioning ceremony on Tuesday at the Kaduna State Command, the Executive Governor of Kaduna State, who was represented at the event by his Chief of Staff, Alhaji Sani Kila, a former Comptroller of the Kaduna State Command, expressed profound gratitude to the NIS for establishing this cutting-edge facility in Kaduna State and emphasized that Nigeria is proudly at the forefront of technological innovation, being the first nation in Africa and fifth globally to embrace this remarkable achievement.
He assured the Nigeria Immigration Service of the State Government’s unwavering support and commitment to collaboration.
In her address, the Acting Comptroller General of Immigration, Caroline Adepoju, said the current leadership of the NIS is dedicated to the nationwide deployment of the enhanced e-Passport, encompassing all states within the country and NIS Missions abroad.
The Acting CGI underscored that the National Identity Number (NIN), remains a mandatory requirement for obtaining the enhanced e-Passport, and the information in both documents must be congruent.
She insisted that the NIS is steadfastly dedicated to delivering passports within the prescribed timeframe of three to six weeks, following biometric capture, provided there are no technical challenges or application discrepancies, such as discrepancies in the National Identification Number (NIN) of applicants.
Dignitaries at the occasion include the Assistant Comptroller General of Immigration in charge of Human Resource Management Directorate, Usman Babangida, the Assistant Comptroller General of Immigration in charge of Passport and Other Travel Documents, Sadat Hassan, former Acting CGI, R B Musa and the Kaduna State Command Comptroller, Bashir Lawal. Others are the FCT and Katsina State Command Comptrollers, the Chiroman Zazzau and Heads of sister Security Agencies in Kaduna State.
