The federal government of Nigeria is in the process of introducing a new border control and immigration system to combat both local and international terrorism, the Minister of Interior, Abdulrahman Dambazau, has disclosed.
The minister made this known while commissioning the 28 new Combined Expatriate Residence Permit and Aliens Card (CERPAC) production centres and 28 operational vehicles donated by Messrs Continental Transfert Technique Limited (CONTEC) at the Nigeria Immigration Service (NIS) headquarters in Abuja on Monday.
He said the new security system, when completed, will be linked with international security agencies including the Interpol.
“The proposed solution constitute a multi bio-metric system that is capable of generating a database of travelers and conforms to the standards of the International Air Transport Association.
“The system would among others, help detect and track the movement of wanted persons especially foreign and local terrorists attempting to cross Nigerian borders while reinforcing existing monitoring system,” he said.
Dambazau added that once approved, the solution would be deployed under a Public/Private partnership arrangement with the twin benefits of improving security of Nigeria’s borders and generating revenue for the federal government.
While commissioning the new CERPAC production centres and vehicles, the Minister said the equipment were providedwithin the framework of the subsisting CERPAC Project between the Federal Ministry of Interior and CONTEC, first signed on 25th May, 1999.
The CERPAC project which is aimed at automating the Service’s operations for the issuance of Residence Permits to expatriates residing and working in Nigeria, only had eight Production Centres in Abuja, Lagos, Kaduna, Bauchi, Owerri, Ibadan, Benin and Makurdi, respectively.
However, an additional 28 CERPAC Production Centres spread across the State Capitals have now been added to make CERPAC facilities more accessible to stakeholders.
The minister said this initiative will help create the enabling environment for attracting Foreign Direct Investments (FDIs) with the attendant benefits to the country.
He stressed that the initiative which will also enhance the capacity of the NIS to discharge its statutory duty of internal monitoring and control of foreigners in Nigeria, is in tandem with President Mohammadu Buhari’s order on ‘Promoting Transparency and Efficiency for the Creation of an Enabling Business Environment’.