Jonathan to inaugurate new e-passport in August

Comptroller of the Immigration Service (NIS) David Shikfut Paradang has said the service would commence implementation of passport reforms on August 1.

Paradang stated this yesterday at the decoration of 45 newly promoted officers of the service comprising 27 Assistant Comptrollers-General of Immigration (ACGs) and 18 Comptrollers of Immigration (CIS) held General Nigerian in Abuja.

He said the approved reforms in the e-passport regime to be implemented soon include a 64 page passport to be published for both official and diplomatic corps.

President Goodluck Jonathan will inaugurate the new passport regime, he said.

“If you present your passport anywhere in the world, the way they rate you determines whether you are respected or not, but if we don’t do the right thing, everybody will look at our passport as something that should be disregarded,” he said.

He said between January to June this year, the service deployed 12 additional immigration officers to man its desks at 12 missions abroad and 230 officers deployed as contingent of the joint task force in Borno state.

Also, it trained and deployed 100 men and officers of the newly established service border patrol among others.

The NIS comptroller general charged the newly promoted officers to be disciplined, focused and to have zero tolerance for corruption.