London high commission to begin issuing new 10-year Nigerian enhanced e-passport

Submitted by AkinfeAyo on Fri, 11/19/2021 - 06:38

NIGERIANS living in the UK will be able to obtain 10-year passports as from Tuesday November 23 when the London high commission unveils the new enhanced e-passport which comes with 64 pages.

In January 2019, Nigeria decided to increase the tenure of its Economic Community of West African States (Ecowas) international passports to 10 years from the current five years. However, these enhanced passports have not been available to diasporans but as from next week, they will now be obtainable from the London high commission.

To be unveiled by the Nigerian high commissioner to the UK Ambassador Sarafa Ishola, the new enhanced e-passport will come with improved security features. When applying for the passports online, applicants will also now have three options to choose from in terms of pages of booklet and length of validity.

They can either go for a 32-page booklet with a five year validity, a 64-page booklet with a five year validity or a 64-page booklet with 10 year validity. Also, the new passports comes with better protection of the booklet from physical damage and increased protection against alteration and manipulation.

However, major requirement for the issuance of the enhanced e-passport is having a Nigerian National Identification Number (Nin). As a result, the number of enrolment centres licensed by the National Identification Management Commission to process Nins for Nigerians in the UK have been increased to 17 in the five major cities of Aberdeen, Glasgow, Leicester, London and Southampton.

A high commission spokesman said: "As of today Thursday 18th November, 2021, 4,093 applicants for passports are awaiting invitation for biometrics. Since the reopening in April 2021, the mission has altogether produced 42,085 passports between April 16 and November 17, 2021.

"We have cleared the backlog from December 2019 to May 2021, a spate of pending applications for 18 months and we shall continue to invite applicants for pending e-passport applications until the outstanding backlog for biometrics up to November 19, 2021 are captured and produced. Meanwhile, the current e-passport payment portal is expected to be shut down by midnight of Friday, November 19, 2021.

"Thereafter, no e-passport application would be accepted and all applications shall migrate to the enhanced e-passport system with effect from Saturday, November 20, 2021, when the enhanced e-passport would be opened for application and processing. All passport applicants for the new enhanced e-passport are therefore enjoined to register and obtain their National Identification Number (NIN) at any of the accredited centres before online application.

"E-passport applicants who have already applied shall continue to receive attention until the last applicant has been attended to, while applicants for the enhanced e-passport shall also receive invitation by email from the mission. This is to allow the two systems to run simultaneously in order to address the needs of the existing applicants until the last application on November 19, 2021 has been treated.

"The production and postage of the enhanced e-passport to respective applicant is expected within three weeks after biometrics. The cost of the enhanced e-passport would be determined by the Nigeria Immigration Service before the commencement of online applications.

"It is pertinent to mention that Nigeria high commission in London is the first overseas mission to commence the issuance of enhanced e-passport outside Nigeria. This introduction of the enhanced e-passport by the Nigerian government is in compliance with International Civil Aviation Organization regulations and the yearnings of Nigerians for longer-lasting and cost-effective travel document."

He added that the high commission will continue to update all Nigerians on any new development and appealed to applicants to exercise patience. Too speed up the process, the high commission has published the list of the 17 NIN centres licensed to issue documents.

Nin enrolment centres

Aberdeen (i) Simplify International Synergy Limited office,

Ruthrieston Community Centre, 532-536 Holburn

Street, Aberdeen AB10 7LL

Telephone: +44 0203 8023899

Website: https://simplifysynergy.com

Glasgow (ii) Eh-Led Global Resources Limited office, 97 Kingston

Street, near Bonnypack Cash & Carry, Tradeston,

Glasgow, G5 8BJ

Website: https://ehledglobal.com

Leicester (iii) Online Integrated Solutions office, St. Georges House,

6 St Georges Way, Leicester LE1 1SH