The Nigerian Immigration Service (NIS) has opened an e-passport facility in Zaria, Kaduna State, to enhance passport administration.

The NIS comptroller general, Isah Jere, who inaugurated the new office on Wednesday, said the new facility was to enhance passport administration, border management and staff welfare.

He said the enhanced e-passport has more sophisticated security features and is one of the most secure passports in the world.

“Nigeria is the first country in Africa to migrate to this type of passport. Today, as we inaugurate this passport office, Zaria joins several other centres across the country and abroad.

“These include FCT-Abuja, Lagos, Port Harcourt, Canada, UK and USA that have been successfully migrated to the enhanced ePassport regime.

“May I quickly mention that the enhanced e-Passport and the ordinary electronic passport are running concurrently until a convenient time when all our centres would have been fully migrated to the former,” he said.

Mr Jere said the enhanced electronic passport was in three categories of 32-page five-year validity, 64-page five-year validity and; 64-page 10-year validity for adults.

“As we roll out this enhanced travel document, we are confident that instances of delays in processing passports will be taken care of,” he said.

The NIS boss advised applicants to follow guidelines and use the online application and payment platform.

He said it was equally important for prospective passport applicants to ensure they confirmed that their NIN details were the same as their passport application details.

This, he said, was to avoid a situation where the applications could not be processed due to a data mismatch.

Speaking, the Emir of Zazzau, Nuhu Bamalli, appreciated the comptroller general for citing a new passport office in Zaria, saying it would relieve people of the stress of going to Kaduna and Abuja to process their passports.

(NAN)