I´m going to apply for a new nigerian epassport. I live in Sweden and I have two options.

Either I go to England and do it there. Then I have to apply for a visa to go to England, pay for the flight, hotell and so on = expensive

Or I do it when I´m in Nigeria, where I´m going to anyway, in januar 2011.

What are you advicing me to do? Which is the most secure and fastest way to get it done??

ABUJA — The Comptroller General of Immigration Service, Mr Chukwurah Udehm yesterday reiterated that the machine-readable passport would be phased out by December 31 this year, as only e-passports will be used for all international travels.
Speaking to Vanguard, Udeh said, “we know that Nigerians do not always do things at the right time so we in the Service had to put proactive measures in place as we inch towards the deadline this year.

“Towards this direction we have opened centres in 15 missions all over the world to help checkmate the expected rush as we do not intend to extend the deadline by one day.”
He explained further “Nigerians do not have any excuse not to change to the new e-passports as all the 36 States in the federation and the Federal Capital Territory are all e-passport compliant.”

On the harmonised ECOWAS passport, the out-going CGI said, “what the member states did was to make sure the harmonised paper carries the coat of arms of individual countries while the front cover carries the logo of the body.

“We do not intend to extend that of ECOWAS by one day as the harmonised version becomes operational by 1 January 2011, I candidly advise holders of the old one to collect the harmonised passport.”

On the e-registration of Africans in Nigeria recently conducted by the Immigration, he said, “it was primarily designed for us to know our neighbours hence we tagged it operation ‘know your neighbour’ and it will be carried out in the 36 states of the federation including FCT.

I don't think that deadline is achievable. i live in Hong Kong and i have been to our embassy here to get the E passport but they said they have not been given the go ahead and equipment to issue them.The same story is replicated in many of our embassies around the world. So do you think after the deadline a nigerian citizen will not been allowed to go back to his country with the old passport? I guess this deadline applies to those travelling out from nigeria.

But you can also apply in Spain (Madrid), Italy(Rome) and Germany (Berlin) in that way it will save you the cost of spending money on Visa to England.

hugooh42:

I don't think that deadline is achievable. i live in Hong Kong and i have been to our embassy here to get the E passport but they said they have not been given the go ahead and equipment to issue them.The same story is replicated in many of our embassies around the world. So do you think after the deadline a nigerian citizen will not been allowed to go back to his country with the old passport? I guess this deadline applies to those travelling out from nigeria.

But u can do it in China since HK hasn't got the equipment.

I heard its the same story in Beijing.They have not started issuing it yet.

hugooh42:

I heard its the same story in Beijing.They have not started issuing it yet.

That is not true, Nigerians in Hong Kong goes to China for e-passport. Hong Kong is a smaller mission compared to China.

What about those of us in Canada. The machine is not available in Ottawa.

Lead Image

Applicants for the new passport say they are prepared to wait provided they beat the deadline
Long wait for new passport

By Adeola Adeyemo

July 30, 2010 01:43AM
Print print Email email Share Share


Ahead of the December 31, 2010 deadline for the use of the country's old international passport, Nigerians all over the world have been trooping to various passport and immigration offices to obtain the new passport. But the process of obtaining the new passport has been received with mixed feeling, especially by people in Lagos; while some have applauded the new system, others complain that the process is very slow.

Simisola Aderibigbe, a pharmacist who works in the United Kingdom but who is currently in Nigeria on holiday, complained that a lot of time is wasted in the passport office at Ikoyi due to the problem of people waiting to obtain the new passsport. "I can't believe I've been waiting here for more than seven hours just to get the finger print and image capturing done. If I had known it would take this long, I would have waited till I got back to the UK to obtain my passport," she said.

Another Nigerian, Daniel James, who wants to travel abroad to further his education next year says that online registration should have been implemented in order to save time. "They should have done it in a way that people will be able to register online, pay at the banks and then just come here when it's time to do the finger prints and stuff like that. I have been here since seven in the morning. I got here early because I thought I would just spend a few hours and get back to my business. But it is now past three and my name hasn't even been called. The whole process is too slow."

New is better

According to King Ekpedem, the public relations officer of the Nigerian Immigrations Service, the new passport is necessary to curb the incidence of forgery and put all applicants under a central data base.

"We want to migrate to the electronic passport because of the challenges we had with the former one. It was susceptible to forgery. The new one will be under a central data base and will have finger prints that cannot be forged anywhere." He added that the turnout of Nigerians for the new passport has been impressive and that the Immigrations Service is doing everything it can to ensure that the passports can be obtained within as short a time as possible.

"The passport can be obtained within a maximum of one week from the date of payment and registration. It costs N8,750 but when the bank charges are added, it goes up to above N9,000." Mr Ekpedem said the document can be obtained in all states of the country as well as in other countries, including United States of America, Germany, Malaysia, Spain, South Africa, and China, amongst others.

In sickness or health

The physical presence of anyone who wants to obtain this passport is required at the point of registration because of the finger print and image capturing. This, therefore, means that even the sick and physically challenged have to go to the immigration offices to obtain their passports. At the Ikoyi Passport office, a sick man was seen coming out of a taxi with the assistance of relatives to obtain his own passport.

Asked why no special provision was made for the invalid, an immigration officer who pleaded anonymity said it was the usual practice everywhere. "Sometimes, they bring sick people who want to travel for medical reasons here with ambulance, but we attend to them quickly."

Despite the shortcomings with the process of obtaining the passport, some Nigerians have applauded the new initiative and commended the efforts of the Nigerian Immigration Service. Bola Adetola, a banker who just obtained his new passport held it proudly. "I like this new one. It's better than the former one," he said smiling.

But for someone like Henry Ukpedem, a resident of Lagos Island who obtained his previous passport with ease, he has no smiles on his face as he got ready to face the throng of people he was sure to meet at the Ikoyi passport office.

Back

So apart from those who live in the above mentioned countries,other people are to get them from where?

Guys,
I have a problem,
I live in the UK and before I left Nigeria I had applied for the ePassport (take picture) but did not go back to the passport office to collect the ePassport. I currently hold the old passport and the passport will expire this month. I went online and applied again for a new ePassport and will be going to the London Embassy to take picture and fingerprint.

Will this be a problem?
I am kind of confused! and I need advice!

cherio:

Guys,
I have a problem,
I live in the UK and before I left Nigeria I had applied for the ePassport (take picture) but did not go back to the passport office to collect the ePassport. I currently hold the old passport and the passport will expire this month. I went online and applied again for a new ePassport and will be going to the London Embassy to take picture and fingerprint.

Will this be a problem?
I am kind of confused! and I need advice!

U can't be issued 2 valid passports (u could if you're are frequent traveler). You'll probably have to go back to Nigeria to pick up ur passport or have someone pick it up for ya. U are now in the center of Nigerian bureaucracy. sucks to be you right now.

cherio

The e-passport was introduced to eradicate what you did.You are wasting your time if you go to London.Nigeria Immigration Service now uses a central database, Abuja, and when you get to London and they scan your fingerprint, it would show that you have already obtained an epassport at one of their offices.You might be arrested and, God knows!