Richard Ginika Izuora
The Federal Government will now start issuing temporary passports to Nigerians abroad in replace of the emergency travel certificate used previously.
Government cited security concerns for this shift in policy.
The temporary passport is a new genre of travel document that will be issued at Nigerian Embassies abroad to Nigerians wishing to return home but whose national passport was not available.
Minister of Interior, Rauf Aregbesola, disclosed this at the Nigeria Immigration Service , NIS, headquarters, Abuja on Tuesday, March 9.
According to a statement by the NIS spokesman, Sunday James, titled, ‘Nigeria Immigration Service launches the Nigerian Temporary Passport,’ the Minister stated that the temporary passport was designed for a one-way travel to Nigeria only and that the new document replaces the Emergency Travel Certificate which was issued to Nigerians in emergency situations for the purpose of returning home.
‘’The temporary passport is ICAO (International Civil Aviation Organisation) compliant and is valid for only 30 days before the date of travel and it is not in any way a replacement for the Nigerian passport as it will only serve a temporary purpose in the case of loss or misplacement of the Nigerian passport by a Nigerian abroad,’’ the statement noted.
In his remarks, the Comptroller-General of Immigration Service, Muhammad Babandede, stated that the replaced ETC was a huge security threat to Nigeria and also the global community; “because it was an ordinary paper devoid of necessary security features of a travel document.’’
He said the TP has a chip as well as surface personalization; which is an enhancement of the Electronic Passport Management System.