Home delivery of passports to start in June- Minister of Interior

According to the minister, the lack of data centres delayed
the home delivery of passports.

He said NIS had been using a private company’s data centre
but needed to establish a permanent solution to address the issue.

 “We have completed
the whole solution but when we came on board, we realised that the data centre
was not really there,” Tunji-Ojo said.

“We were leveraging on a private company data centre and we
appreciate them for that assistance. We think that it is better to create a
permanent solution to problems rather than quick fixes.

“We could have done it in February but we had to build our
data centre from scratch to be able to keep the integrity of our data and
national security intact. This is more important.

“It is disgraceful that NIS is 61 years old and NIS is a
custodian of biometric data of Nigeria and we believe that NIS should be in
charge of the data of Nigeria.

 “It is not acceptable
that this data is domiciled in a third party and that is why we have been able
to do this.”

Tunji-Ojo said the data centre has been constructed and the
passport delivery solution has been resolved.

“It is about national security and I can assure you that It
is comparable with anyone you can find anywhere in the world,” he said.

“We have built the data centre, sorted the passport delivery
solution and done the final presentation in terms of technology deliverables
and the tracking solution which will all be embedded in the application we have
so we do not create multiple lines of failure.”

 ‘E-VISA PROCESSING TIME REDUCED TO 48 HOURS
WITH NEW TECHNOLOGY’

Tunji-Ojo said the final presentation of the electronic visa
has been completed, adding that it will reduce the visa processing time from 72
hours to 48 hours.

 “The passport
automation process is almost complete,” he added.

Also speaking, Kemi Nandap, comptroller-general (CG) of NIS,
said over 107,000 passports are ready for collection and urged applicants to
pick them up.