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By Nasir Kura
President Muhammadu Buhari and the Vice President Yemi Osinbajo on Tuesday received a new 10-year diplomatic passport issued by the Nigeria Immigration Service (NIS) at the Presidential Villa, Abuja.
The passports were presented to the duo by the Minister of Interior, Mr. Abdulrahman Dambazau, assisted by the Comptroller General of Nigeria Immigration Service (NIS), Mohammed Babandede.
Speaking to State House correspondents after the presentation, the minister, who narrated the origin and history of passport in the country, Nigeria, said apart from the 10-year validity, the new passport has an enhanced and self-tracking of application.
He said the new passport meets the specifications of the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO).
“Now, you things are dynamic and International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) also brought up additional security features which we have to comply as early as possible for various reasons.
“We have series of cross border issues to deal with and series of challenges in terms of border security and management and one of the best way to do that in additional to biometric we have introduced is to ensure that our passport contains all these security features,’’ he said.
He said passport is weather friendly and has polycarbonate technology that eliminates damage and that it now saves Nigerians in diaspora the time needed to frequently visit Nigerian embassies in search of new passports.
Also speaking, the Comptroller General of Nigeria Immigration Service said the NIS had in October 2018 announced that Nigeria would begin using the new passport by December 2018.
He expressed optimism that the security features embedded in the new passport would raise the standard of the document.
He said the new 32-booklet standard passport would cost N25,000 and 130 dollars abroad, while 64-booklet passport for five years would cost N35, 000 and 150 dollars abroad.
According to him, the 64-booklet passport with 10-year validity would cost N70, 000 in Nigeria and 230 dollars abroad.
He said the diplomatic passport, which is free of charge, is meant for members of the diplomatic corps and is owned for life by serving or former presidents of the country.
