The Nigerian Security Printing and Minting Plc has signed a memorandum of understanding with an indigenous firm, Iris Smart Technology Ltd, for the production of international passports locally.
At the signing ceremony at the ministry of interior in Abuja on Tuesday, the minister of interior, Lt. Gen. Abdulraham Dambazau (retd), said by the agreement, the production of e-passport will be done solely in Nigeria.
He said the process that led to the signing of the MoU began two years earlier and that before the agreement, passport booklets were produced overseas.
He enumerated the advantages of Nigeria producing the e-passport to include “protection of our database.”
He said producing the document locally would provide employment for Nigerians to acquire skills in passport production as well as the technological know-how in the production of high-quality passport booklets.
“We must ensure that we provide Nigerians with the best quality passport booklet because that is what Nigerians deserve,” he said.
In his remarks, the comptroller-general of immigration, Mr. Mohammed Babandede, thanked the minister for ensuring that domestication of production of the passport was achieved.
He said the Nigeria Immigration Service (NIS) would be the greatest beneficiary of the development and assured that the passport would be of high quality.
Babandede said the first copy produced would be tested to ensure that it is of the desired quality.
For his part, the managing director of NSPM Plc, Mr. Abbas Masanawa, commended the ministry of interior for the initiative and effort to see it through.
He described the MOU as “epoch event in Nigeria” adding “what is done outside the country can be done in Nigeria.”
Masanawa assured that the company would produce the passport that would compete with others in the world.
