By Abdullahi M. Gulloma
Abuja
President Goodluck Jonathan yesterday launched the 64-page electronic passport introduced by the Nigeria Immigration Service (NIS) for frequent travellers.
The new e-passport was launched by the president at the State House in Abuja.
He said: “One thing one must know today is that it is not the issue of 64-page passport that is key to Nigerians but the security. If our passport could be easily faked by criminals, then we will have problems. One thing again is that how can Nigerians are able to get passport easily especially those living outside this country.”
The president also stressed the need for the personnel of the Nigeria Immigration Service to be mindful their attitude, saying that they should be concerned with the issue of the image of the country.
He said visitors would always perceive the country from the way personnel of the Nigeria Immigration Service conduct themselves and the way the media and the civil society paint it.
He said: “I want a situation that whenever you travel to another country and you raise your green passport, people will appreciate you and not when you raise your green passport, people will begin to think that that green passport signify some suspicious character. We are not helping ourselves when we paint ourselves the colours that we are supposed to bear.”
In his remarks, Minister of Interior, Mr. Abba Moro, commended the president for his efforts towards the successful implementation of policies and programmes of the Ministry and the Nigeria Immigration Service.
He said the programmes are aimed at bringing the dividends of democracy to the door steps of Nigerians.
“The ease with which our citizens at home and in the Diaspora can obtain their Nigerian Passports, across several issuing centers in Nigeria and in 27 Missions abroad, as well as through the on-going e-Passport Intervention Exercise, is a clear demonstration of government’s deliberate commitment towards entrenching seamless service delivery to Nigerians wherever they are found.
“I must also say a big thank you to our service providers and technical partners who have been working assiduously in close collaboration with the Nigerian Immigration to sustain the e-passport technology since it was adopted in Nigeria in July, 2007.”
