Immigration Launches Nigerian Temporary Passport

Victoria Ogunrinde

The Nigeria Immigration Service, on Tuesday launched the Nigerian Temporary Passport (NTP), in Abuja.

The Temporary Passport is a new genre of Passport that will be issued at the Nigerian Embassies/High Commissions outside the country to Nigerians desirous of returning home but whose national passport is not available.

Performing the launch, at the at NIS Headquarters, the minister of interior Rauf Aregbesola, said that the Temporary Passport is a travel document designed for a one-way travel to Nigeria only and that the new document replaces the hitherto Emergency Travel Certificate (ETC) which was issued to Nigerians in emergency situations for the purpose of returning home.

He maintained that the Temporary Passport which is ICAO compliant and valid for only 30 days before the date of travel doesn’t serve as a replacement for the Nigerian Passport.

In his remarked at the unveiling ceremony, the Comptroller General of Immigration Service, Muhammad Babandede stated that the replaced Emergency Travel Certificate was a huge security threat to Nigeria and the global community because it was an ordinary paper devoid of necessary security features of a travel document.

He noted that the move to introduce the Temporary Passport “is a catalyst to Nigeria’s desire for effective identity management as it has a chip and surface personalization which is an enhancement of the current Electronic Passport Management System (EPMS)”.