FG DEPLOYS E-BORDER SOLUTION AT 40% OF BORDERS
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The Federal Government said it has deployed an e-border solution in 40 per cent of the country’s borders.
The Minister of Interior, Olubunmi Tunji-Ojo, disclosed this in Abuja, during a media parley and interactive session on Tuesday.
According to him, the move is part of improving the security of lives and property of those living in Nigeria.
The minister said the technological innovation would go a long way in helping the country to adequately monitor its borders.
He noted that a secured border ensures a safe nation, adding that newly acquired vehicles have been deployed to improve border management.
“Immigration (Nigeria Immigration Service) is beyond a travel document issuing agency…we sat down and we took a decision that the issue of migration management and border control must be at the core of what NIS should be doing.
“I’m happy to tell you that the first phase of our e-border solution has been completed as we speak. I wouldn’t want to go too deeply into that, but I want to tell you that the first phase is 100% completed and covers 40% of the design of the e-border solution across the country. We hope that the second phase will start this year,” he disclosed.
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According to him, part of the country’s border control plan also included the deployment of the e-gate solution at the airports.
He added: “As we speak, anybody that has travelled into Abuja in the last one month or two months will tell you that it’s no longer business as usual. If you are in Nigeria, the e-gate is up and running in Abuja, fully integrated and installed in Lagos.”
The minister also said Nigeria had also adopted Advance Passenger Information (API) and Passenger Name Records (PNR) to streamline traveller identification management and facilitate border management.
Tunji-Ojo hinted that with the commissioning of the command and control, technology and innovation centre at the NIS headquarters, “there’s real-time monitoring of our land border and all entry ports of all airports, everything.”
He expressed dismay that Nigeria issues visas abroad unlike in the developed world where visa approval is usually done in the home office of the home country.
He said the federal government had decided to unify the visa regime processes with a Visa Approval Centre in Abuja where all visa applications would be approved
“There was no control. If an immigration officer, without indicting anybody, collects $100 he can give you a visa. And we were running two visa regimes. We had manual visas that were written with biro in some countries, and we had biometric visas in others. It means a country with two visa regimes,” he said.
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