The journey towards reforming Nigerian passport
Forty years ago, Nigeria just like the rest of the developing world had no idea the impact Information Communication Technology (ICT) would have on it and effectively shape the future of the country. The Nigerian Passport has been caught in web of intrigues by contending interests to handle the production of Nigeria’s e-passport which is technology based, NDUKA CHIEJINA reports.
More than two decades after the Information Communication Technology (ICT) transformed the private sector, the public sector which is the major driver of the economy are still in deep slumber.
One public institution that came under harsh and constant focus is the Nigeria Immigration Service (NIS), which has continued to run in cycles and skirting round issuing electronic passport popularly called e-passport to its citizens.
Nigeria and her Green Passport had assumed notoriety because of the activities of a notorious gang of forgers known as “Oluwole Printers”.
Named after the street in down town Lagos island these daredevil printers had the shady reputation of printing anything from birth certificates to international passports of any country that failed to secure this critical instrument that eases global migration.
The Oluwole Printers were so adept at their nefarious trade that in the late 1990s when they were busted several hundreds of boxes containing Nigerian passports alleged to be genuine were found there.
The story is however changing albeit on a slow pace. The journey to this new paradigm of obtaining a secure electronic passport (e-Passport) can be traced to 2003, when President Obasanjo traveled to Malaysia where he was impressed by the security, quality, and ease of obtaining the Malaysian national passport by qualified nationals. On his return, he instructed that a tender for the redesign and production of e-passport for Nigeria be opened. The Nigerian Security Printing and Minting Company (NSPMC) was invited to submit a bid for the design and production.
What the NSPMC submitted did not meet President Obasanjo’s expectation, in quality and standard, bearing in mind the Malaysian model he had seen.
President Obasanjo then called for an international tender, where international and local companies can compete and give the country the best possible service. Companies were invited from Nigeria and abroad to submit a design and production quotation for the new Nigerian passport.
The quality of the design sent in by NSPMC was below standard and was instantly rejected by the Tenders Board and President Obasanjo.
A private Nigerian company, however, submitted a higher quality design and quoted a production cost much lower than NSPMC. The Tenders Board had no option than to recommend to the President the award of the contract for the design and printing of the e-passport to the private company.
The private Nigerian company handling the printing came up with a far superior and better security-coded passports. The question then is “Why should any patriot advocate giving NSPMC the job for which it cannot handle”? Patriotism means putting the national interest first and above every other consideration.
The private company currently printing the e-passport for NIS is owned by Nigerians, employs Nigerians, is located in Nigeria, pays millions of Naira in taxes, pays its workers living wages, takes care of its community and borrows money from Nigerian banks to run its business.
So far, the private company, has demonstrated that it is more efficient and has professionals staff with the know-how to give Nigerian passport holders the quality of passport they see other Nationals holding.
The birth of e-passport
In 2003, following a visit to Malaysia by former President Olusegun Obasanjo and the subsequent working visit of the then Minister of Internal Affairs and the Comptroller General of Immigration on the directives of the President, the unique Malaysian e-Passport technology was adopted for the Nigeria Harmonized ECOWAS Electronic Smart Passport and Autogate Systems.
The Federal Executive Council (FEC) gave approval for an Agreement between the Federal Ministry of Internal Affairs (as it was then known) and Iris Smart Technologies Limited (ISTL) for the provision of the e-Passport technology. This comprised the Central Processing Equipment, chips, wafers, associated peripherals, and software systems for both local and foreign passport issuing centres in various Nigerian missions abroad.
It was agreed that the project would be implemented on a contractor-financed basis, wherein the Federal Government of Nigeria (FGN) would not contribute to the funding of the project. The project would be solely financed by ISTL and the revenue generated from the sales of the e-Passports would be used to settle ISTL’s invoices.
At the initial stage, the Nigeria Security Printing and Minting Plc (NSPMC or the MINT) was requested to produce the first batch of the e-Passport booklets into which the chip supplied by ISTL would be embedded. However, the booklets produced by MINT fell far short of international standards and the FGN therefore, initiated and conducted an international tender for the production of the e-Passport booklets and the embedding of the chips.
Five international companies (Obethur, G&D, De La Rue, Mint and IRIS) submitted bids. IRIS was adjudged the most technically competent and price competitive and awarded the contract. Incidentally, the bid from the MINT was the most expensive.
After the “No Objection” certificate was obtained from the Bureau of Public Procurement (BPP), FEC approved a second Agreement between Federal Ministry of Internal Affairs and ISTL for the production of the e-Passport booklets. Again, this Agreement was contractor-financed on a Public-Private-Partnership (PPP) model.
Former President, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo launched the project in 2003 and late President Umar Yar’Adua flagged off the National Rollout in 2007.
To date, there is a worldwide network of 43 local and 43 foreign passports issuing centres, all linked to the Central Processing Centre which also hosts the Automated Fingerprint Identification System (AFIS), the Central Database Server and other subsystems.
The Nigerian e-Passport scheme is acclaimed to be one of the best and most innovative in the world and it was accorded this recognition by International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO). As a result, a conference showcasing the Nigeria e-Passport to the world was organized in Abuja in 2009. Nigeria was subsequently appointed into ICAO Technical Committee for Public Key Directory/Public Key Infrastructure.
The Contract
Two contracts were signed between the Federal Ministry of Internal Affairs and IRIS on 14th May 2003 and 1st March 2007 respectively.
The first Contract covers equipment, technology, subsystems and more importantly the supply of 5.5 million Wafers (Chip and Antenna) and 5.5 million Laminates. This contract predated the establishment of the Bureau for Public Procurement (BPP) and the Public Procurement Act. It also predated the establishment of the Infrastructure Concession Regulatory Commission (ICRC). It was approved by the Federal Executive Council (FEC).
The second Contract of 1st March 2007 was the outcome of an international selective Tender for the manufacturing of the e-Passport booklets and the Embedding of the Chips. Three international companies and two local companies were invited to bid. IRIS’ proposal was adjudged to be the most technically competent and price competitive. This contract went through the approval of the Budget Monitoring Project and Implementation Unit (BMPIU), the precursor of BPP and it was approved by the FEC.
The Structure of the Project
The e-Passport Scheme is a contractor-financed arrangement in which the Solution Provider, IRIS funded the project 100%. There were no Federal Government funds put into the project.
IRIS took out facilities of N3 billion in 2003 to fund the implementation of this project.
Out of the revenue generated, IRIS gets paid for the goods and services delivered to Nigeria Immigration Service (NIS) from only the naira portion of the revenue, which is about 40% of the naira revenue.
From 2007 to-date, about 11.525 million e-Passport booklets have been issued.
From inception till December 2017, the project has generated over N69.133 billion and USD 120.339 million. The National Bureau of Statistics in its publication of 17th July 2019, stated that the Nigeria Immigration Service generated N39 billion in the year 2018 alone from the sale of passports
Local production of e-passport
According to documents available to The Nation, IRIS made a commitment to establish a local manufacturing plant for the production of e-Passport booklets.
Although establishing a local facility to produce passport booklets locally was never a condition precedent of the Agreement, ISTL said it had it in mind to do so and IRIS preferred partner in this venture has always been the MINT.
To this end, IRIS engaged MINT in a couple of discussions to form a Joint Venture company to implement the domestication of the e-Passport booklets production, “but MINT has been foot-dragging.”
In the meantime, and particularly after the roll out of the new enhanced E-passport regime, the Federal Government had reiterated its desire for the passport booklets to be produced locally.
After several aborted attempts, on the 5th February 2019, ISTL and the MINT signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) to give effect to the government policy (as well as IRIS’ long expressed desire) on domestication. The signing of the MOU was done at the Federal Ministry of Interior (FMI) and in attendance were the Honourable Minister, the Permanent Secretary, the CGI and other senior officials of the Ministry, the MD of the MINT, and the MD of the ISTL.
Making an e-passport
An e-Passport project is technology based and not a security printing task as with the pre e-Passport era. Booklet production constitutes only 20% of an e-Passport project
The security printing aspect of an e-Passport constitutes only 13% of the various components of an e-Passport booklet. The domestication of the manufacturing of e-Passport booklets does not eliminate the need for FX and importation of components.
An e-Passport booklet is an active electronic device as against the old Machine-Readable Passport (MRP) which is a mere printed booklet. The chip embedded in the e-Passport has a security access module that allows for a “hand shake” with and amongst other devices and equipment within the e-Passport network.
The system does not allow the “infiltration” or use of non-prequalified 3rd party devices or other booklets within the network.
Until things change, the MINT is not a technology company. The MINT is a security printer, therefore, it requires a technology partner if it must go into the e-Passport project.
There are over N20 billion worth of systems and equipment both local and international in this secured e-Passport network. Therefore, if a new booklet solution provider is appointed, this technology infrastructure would have to be discarded. This investment would be lost and a new network must be purchased and implemented at a greater cost to the federal government of Nigeria.
There is the argument that “it is impossible to have two different e-Passport projects running concurrently in any country”. To establish a new e-Passport solution, would require a duration of 18 to 36 months for the rollout of the new infrastructure with the attendant consequences that no e-Passport would be issued both locally and in foreign missions for a period of two to three years.
As a result, there would be no passport issued and no revenue accruing from the project for the entire duration of the rollout of the new e-Passport solution.
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