Politics

Nigeria saved N600m thanks to revamped passport system— Interior Minister

Published

3 months ago

June 25, 2024

With the use of an automated application system, Nigeria’s Minister of Interior, Olubunmi Tunji-Ojo, claims the government saved millions of naira.

He proposed a number of measures aimed at modernizing the nation’s immigration services.

The minister also revealed intentions to streamline passport applications, start passport home delivery, and install cutting-edge passenger information systems at airports while appearing as a guest on an O’tega Ogra YouTube interview series that was published on Saturday.

He said, “When we came on board in August last year, it was about stock-taking because I always say this, as a professional, you spend more time planning so that execution can be pretty easy and we’ve been able to do that across all our agencies and today, the short-term goals that we had for ourselves we’ve been able to achieve that.

“For example, in Immigration, the short-term goals include clearing our backlog of over 204,000 passports that we inherited, we cleared that in slightly over two weeks, less than three weeks we’re able to do that and under President Bola Tinubu, we made sure that passport backlog has become something of the past that will never happen again.

“We went through our automation process which is basically broken into three different stages but in terms of our short-term target, it’s achieving the first two then the midterm target is, of course, the third one which is where we are now.

“We’ve achieved the first one, which is, of course, automating the application process that has started saving the government billions of naira because I’ll give you an example. We used to pay for archiving of documents, but today, we have automated that process that applicants now upload by themselves.

“When you calculate that, for archiving alone which is about N200 that we used to pay per applicant and by about three million passports a year, that’s about N600 million. So, we have saved the government of that money and yet it’s even more convenient for people because people can now do that on their own and we moved now to the stage of even uploading passports and all these other things.”

The ministry’s home delivery system for passports is “about to go live in the next couple of days,” he continued. The minister also emphasized the use of the Passenger Name Record (PNR) and Advanced Passenger Information (API) systems, which enable immigration officers to pre-profile visitors prior to their arrival in Nigeria. “Our scrutiny is now objective when you enter Nigeria,” he clarified.

“What it means is that if you’re a terrorist or you have a questionable background, you can’t come into Nigeria. So we’ve been able to do that, and as I speak with you, the command and control centre for the air border control management system is 100% ready. If you get to NIS headquarters, you will see it.

“Just two weeks ago IATA came all the way from their headquarters in Canada and they took a facility tour you know of the of this facility and the IATA representative said it clearly that this is one of the best command and control centre any anywhere in the world. That makes me happy as a Nigerian,” he added.

The Nigerian Ministry of Interior has been plagued by numerous forms of corruption up until recently, especially when it comes to the issuing of new or reissued passports. Not less than 8 Nigerian Immigration Service officers and men were dismissed from service in May 2023 for engaging in the unlawful collection of fees related to passport matters, while over eighty more officials were put on trial for the same offence in the same year.

The minister said that the latest reforms are a part of the government’s attempts to make doing business in Nigeria easier and to strengthen national security.

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Politics

ECOWAS allocates $380m to electrify Nigerian health facilities

Published

1 day ago

September 27, 2024

Ifeoluwa Dada

Regional bloc, The Economic Community of West African States Commission has declared its intention to spend $380 million powering public health facilities and schools in eighteen countries—Nigeria, Benin, Chad, and other countries in the Sahel and West Africa— as well as other countries in West Africa.

The project intends to alleviate the region’s chronic energy access shortage, which impacts over 208 million people, mostly in rural areas.

El Hadji Sylla, Senior Adviser on the Regional Off-Grid Electricity Access Project at the ECOWAS Commission, presented the project’s objectives at a stakeholder meeting in Abuja on Thursday. The program is funded by the Dutch government, the Clean Technology Fund, and the World Bank.

According to Sylla, the project’s goal is to improve rural residents’ access to power by emphasising off-grid options for crucial public services.

“The cost of the project is $380m, and we want to promote a new innovative chain to electrify public institutions. Our target is to electrify schools and health centres to improve service delivery.

“We are piloting the project in Nigeria and the Benin Republic. The project covers 15 countries in the ECOWAS region and four countries in the Sahel region,” Sylla said.

“We are targeting schools and health centres to improve service delivery,” Sylla said, adding that the project is expected to be completed in five years across all participating countries, with the pilot phase in Nigeria and Benin to be executed within 18 months.

The program in Nigeria will start with electricity initiatives in a few Federal Capital Territory, Niger, and Nasarawa state schools and health centres.

Through grants and subsidies, Nigeria’s attempts to electrify its rural areas have greatly improved, according to Minister of Power Adebayo Adelabu.

Bem Ayangeaor, speaking on behalf of Adelabu, expressed optimism that the sector will see a growth in private sector investment due to official assistance.

“I do not doubt that the rural electrification space in Nigeria, thanks to grants and subsidies, has grown significantly and will soon reach a stage where public support leverages private sector financing at higher efficiencies than it is presently done.

“A stage where the private sector would be more excited in investing in the electrification space because of the benefits to be gained,” Adelabu said.

Electricity is essential for modern education, especially for science and technology-focused schools, according to Muyibat Olodo, Director of Technology and Science Education at the Federal Ministry of Education.

“Access to power is not a luxury in Nigeria and especially in our public institutions. There is a need for uninterrupted power supply in our schools especially those in the science and technology field.

“With proper implementation, our public institutions in the FCT, Niger, and Nasarawa states will become models of energy resilience, self-sufficiency, and sustainability,” she stated.

Politics

Tunisia: Presidential candidate Ayachi Zammel imprisoned for certificate forgery

Published

1 day ago

September 27, 2024

Ifeoluwa Dada

Tunisian presidential candidate, Ayachi Zammel, has been convicted and sentenced to six months imprisonment for using “fraudulent certificates.”

The Criminal Chamber of the Jendouba Court of First Instance sentenced Mr Zammel for “deliberately using a fraudulent certificate,” Tunisia’s TAP reported Wednesday.

Mr Zammel was imprisoned for 20 months for forging popular endorsement documents to contest last week’s race.

The lawyer for Mr. Zammel, Abdessattar Massoudi, disregarded the punishment, claiming it was a ploy to hurt his chances in the upcoming election.

“It is another unjust ruling and a farce that aims to weaken him in the election race, but we will defend his right to the last minute,” Mr Massoudi told Reuters.

On September 2, Mr. Zammel was taken into custody due to accusations that he had forged signatures obtained to run for president. Four days later, he was freed but was detained again on the same charges.

Presidential elections are scheduled to be held on 6 October 2024 in Tunisia.[1] They will be the first presidential elections since president Kais Saied’s self-coup in 2021.