The Nigeria Immigration Service (NIS) will unveil the fully automated passport application system on March 8, 2024.
, on Sunday made this announcement via a post on X accompanied by a video.
Minister of Interior, Olubunmi Tunji-Ojo said the new system will allow applicants, including Nigerians in the diaspora, to enjoy a seamless experience in alignment with the Renewed Hope agenda of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu.
“I really feel for Nigerians in the diaspora having to travel with their families to other nations just to acquire international passports,” he said while speaking at the Diaspora Virtual Lecture Series.
“I have always said that I don’t think it is something that should continue and this is 2024, not 1984, so technology must take it’s rightful place in whatever we do.
“We were supposed to go live earlier than this time but we analysed that the major concern with Nigerians in the diaspora was obviously the contactless which will finally eradicate movement from one place to another in the process of passport acquisition.
“So, we are looking at starting the fully automated passport application system by March 8, that is the contactless biometrics as we have promised earlier.”
The minister of interior had earlier said that the complete automation of passport applications would commence on January 8, 2024.
He made the announcement in December 2023, saying that the Nigerian Government was working very hard to ensure that the country commenced a full automation system of passport application.
At the time, Tunji-Ojo said that the automated application system was “99% done but it never saw the light of day.
However, he has now assured Nigerians that the fully automated passport application system will kick off on March 8.
