The federal government has said 33 electronic passport gates (e-gates) will be installed at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, (MMIA), Lagos, and the three other international airports to secure the nation’s borders.
Minister of Interior, Dr. Olubunmi Tunji-Ojo, made this known while inspecting the final stages of installation of the gates at the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport in Abuja.
Tunji-Ojo said 21 e-gates will be mounted at the MMIA while the other three international airports located in Kano, Port Harcourt and Enugu, will have four e-gates each.
“By Monday, Tuesday according to what I’ve been told, work will start in Lagos and by 28-29th, (April), the 21 e-gates would have been installed. So all the terminals in Lagos will have the e-gates,” Tunji-Ojo said.
“The last time I was here, (Abuja international airport), the job was at 30 per cent completion but from what we can see and as far as Abuja is concerned, we are on 99.9 percent. By Wednesday, Abuja will be 100 per cent good.”
The minister explained that by the third week of May 2024, the other three international airports located in Kano, Port Harcourt, and Enugu, will each have four e-gates installed.
“We tested it on various scenarios and we saw that for a Nigerian carrying a valid passport, the entire process of inspection takes about 24-25 seconds which is record time and a massive improvement from what we have at the moment,” the minister said.
According to him, “It’s impossible for you to use another person’s passport or an expired passport to enter into Nigeria with this solution.
“So it has enhanced our security, it has made our work seamless in the Nigeria Immigration Service and interns of delivery, I believe it is a wonderful solution and by the next four weeks, we would have crossed the rubicon.”
Comptroller General of the Nigeria Immigration Service, (NIS), Kemi Nandap, said the installation of the e-gates is revolutionary because enable the agency monitors it air borders and secure them round the clock.
“Not only can we work collaboratively as agencies of government, it helps us monitor the borders better and gives us that edge in terms of knowing what is happening real time, on time 24/7,” she said.
