TheCable

The Niger government has donated some digital equipment to the Nigeria Immigration Service (NIS) in the state to address difficulties experienced during passport processing.

Speaking on Tuesday during the presentation of the equipment, Suleiman Isah, Niger state commissioner for communication technology and digital economy, said the digital tools will enhance data capturing for students and hajj pilgrims.

Isah said the government has been receiving complaints about the difficulties faced by citizens while obtaining their international passports.

“Looking at the traffic that is going to increase with this coming hajj operations, the farmer governor Mohammed Umaru Bago said as a ministry we should look into how we can improve that process,” he said.

“We expect that any citizen of Niger state that goes for a passport should be able to have a turn-around time of 24-48 hours for data capturing, which will increase the speed not just for hajj operations but even students that have scholarship abroad and are forced to forfeit the scholarship because they didn’t get the passport on time, will now become a thing of the past.”

The commissioner said Umar Bago, governor of Niger, had earlier directed the ministry to improve passport processing standards.

On his part, Emmanual Eche, NIS acting comptroller, Niger state command, expressed appreciation to the governor for the donation.

Eche, who received the tools on behalf of Kemi Nandap, comptroller-general of the NIS, added that the devices will improve the quality of services of the command.

Some of the digital tools presented include desktop computers, signature pads, digital cameras, tripods, and fingerprint scanners among others.