A directive by the President, Major General Muhammadu Buhari (retd.), in 2019 that the Nigerian passport booklets should be produced locally has not been carried out two years down the line.

Sunday PUNCH gathered that the delay was due to the inability of the Ministry of Interior to terminate the contract awarded to Smart Technology Nigeria Limited for the production of the passport booklets.

Smart Technology Nigeria Limited works in partnership with its parent company, Iris Corporation, based in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

The e-passport booklets are produced in Malaysia, but the Nigeria Immigration Service activates the passport through the biometric data transfer.


It was gathered that the Ministry of Interior and the NIS officials have been holding meetings with ISTL for over one year on the termination or variation of the contract valued at over $138, 443, 740, signed in May 2003.

The situation has led to the scarcity of passport booklets as ISTL has reportedly suspended production of the booklets following moves by the Federal Government to cancel its contracts and commence local production of the travel document.

An impeccable source said the Federal Government was facing serious legal challenges terminating the contracts which had no terminal date.

The official stated, “What I can tell you authoritatively is that the issue has been enmeshed in some legal tangle which they are trying to untangle. They discovered that previous administrations had committed the country to unfavourable contracts which may even be for life. Everybody has been on tenterhooks over it.


“What the government is doing now is to resolve the legal conundrum and I think they are almost done with it. They would be making arrangements for local producers of the passport (booklets) after sorting out the problem.’’

Documents obtained by our correspondent indicate that the Federal Government entered into six agreements with the contractor between March 2003 and April 2015 for the production of e-passports.

The first contract was in three phases with the first phase costing $62,881,800 (over N10bn), while the second phase costs $53,337,470 (over N9bn) and the third phase, $62,881,800 (over N10bn).

The contract, which included the implementation of the Nigeria Harmonised ECOWAS Electronic Smart Passport and Autogate, was for the production of 5.5 million wafers and laminates for incorporation into the back cover of passport booklets, supply of Electronic Passport Management System, comprising the Passport Enrolment and Issuance System, Automated Fingerprint Identification System, Passport Personalisation System, Immigration Border Control System and Immigration Reporting System.


Checks indicate that the Federal Government did not commit any funds to the project, leaving the contractor as the sole financier of the contract.

ISTL reportedly took a loan of N3bn in 2003 to fund the implementation of the project.

The agreement states that ISTL shall bear, pay and thereafter be reimbursed by the Ministry of Interior with all withholding taxes, VAT, duties, fees, levies and other charges connected with the execution of the agreement which did not contain any renewal clause.

However, on March 1, 2007, the Ministry of Interior and Iris Smart Tech signed another agreement for the production of three million machine-readable passport booklets and the embedding of the substrates.


The booklets were to be supplied at a unit price of N690.08, totalling N2,070,240,000.

According to the agreement, the settlement of the company’s invoices was to be made from 30 per cent of the revenue generated from the passport sales.

The ministry was to make an advance payment of 25 per cent of the project cost while ISTL was expected to provide technical and management training to NIS officials.

https://punchng.com/malaysian-firm-battles-fg-over-multibillion-naira-passport-booklets-contracts/?utm

Please help me with free treatment with a cardiologist, kindly confirm my case, I'm in Ibadan for any confirmation please

What a country.

The only thing we don't outsource or import is incompetence and corruption. We are also the number one exporters of these unenviable skills.

This piece is dubiously written & seems to be an attempt to redirect the blame for the present scarcity of Nigerian passports to other sources rather than the fact that it is this present administration that is incompetent.

How can the contract be almost for life when it is clearly stated that it has been renewed about 3 times?

While it is good that Nigerian passports be produced locally, it is the dubious nature & poor planning culture of this administration that has led to scarcity of passports & not because of the existing contract.

STNL has a contract to produce about 6m passports & while the exact number of passports produced so far is debatable (about 4m+), the contract cannot be said to be unfavorable (except in the sense that we should produce passports locally) or for life.

This administration is piss-poor when it comes to planning & implementation but always prefers to blame others for its incompetence.

The solution is simple, allow the existing contract run its course or mandate STNL to produce the balance passports within a specific timeframe or payoff STNL for the balance of passports yet to be printed... How hard can it be?

If a contract has no end date, then automatically that agreement is null and void. An essential component of a contact is start and end date / duration.

Lawyers in the house

This is babaric

MASTAkiLLAh:

https://punchng.com/malaysian-firm-battles-fg-over-multibillion-naira-passport-booklets-contracts/?utm

Now it's Malaysia

Ordinary passports, we can't even get that rightly done. Issues still dey
This country na wa ooo.

Scamming at different levels

Let's organize a friendly war

Malaysia vs Nigeria
Let's see who get power pass

Everyday we wake up to some backward news about this country.


I keep asking, when are we ever going to get things right in this country?

nigeria govt always fighting, directly or indirectly

defcon4:
If a contract has no end date, then automatically that agreement is null and void. An essential component of a contact is start and end date / duration.

Lawyers in the house

You're right. If a contract is not terminated mutually or effluxion of time (stated date) , it is by operation of law that is by the conclusion of some condition. That part sounds like the normal buck shifting of this administration

I didn't have much time to read this long right up currently, but all i have to say is "buhari is mad"

......typing

So there's no Nigeria company that can handle e-passport printing.

ivandragon:
This piece is dubiously written & seems to be an attempt to redirect the blame for the present scarcity of Nigerian passports to other sources rather than the fact that it is this present administration that is incompetent.

How can the contract be almost for life when it is clearly stated that it has been renewed about 3 times?

While it is good that Nigerian passports be produced locally, it is the dubious nature & poor planning culture of this administration that has led to scarcity of passports & not because of the existing contract.

STNL has a contract to produce about 6m passports & while the exact number of passports produced so far is debatable (about 4m+), the contract cannot be said to be unfavorable (except in the sense that we should produce passports locally) or for life.

This administration is piss-poor when it comes to planning & implementation but always prefers to blame others for its incompetence.

The solution is simple, allow the existing contract run its course or mandate STNL to produce the balance passports within a specific timeframe or payoff STNL for the balance of passports yet to be printed... How hard can it be?

You obviously did not read the post at all.

Keep blaming Buhari if it makes you happy.

Holding Nigeria at ransom


Company vs Nigeria jaga jaga

"An impeccable source said the Federal Government was facing serious legal challenges terminating the contracts which had no terminal date"........Who signed that contract in 2003 with no terminal date, so they were to print the Nigerian passport till Nigeria ceases to exist?

This country get problem ooo

Buhari self na case on his own. He plunged the Nigerian economy into comatose by ordering the closure of the borders yet local production can not meet the country's demand.

Bubu has killed this country

ivandragon:
This piece is dubiously written & seems to be an attempt to redirect the blame for the present scarcity of Nigerian passports to other sources rather than the fact that it is this present administration that is incompetent.

How can the contract be almost for life when it is clearly stated that it has been renewed about 3 times?

While it is good that Nigerian passports be produced locally, it is the dubious nature & poor planning culture of this administration that has led to scarcity of passports & not because of the existing contract.

STNL has a contract to produce about 6m passports & while the exact number of passports produced so far is debatable (about 4m+), the contract cannot be said to be unfavorable (except in the sense that we should produce passports locally) or for life.

This administration is piss-poor when it comes to planning & implementation but always prefers to blame others for its incompetence.

The solution is simple, allow the existing contract run its course or mandate STNL to produce the balance passports within a specific timeframe or payoff STNL for the balance of passports yet to be printed... How hard can it be?

these are simple contracting basics but our FG makes it look like its rocket science because of incompetence

Previous PDP govt really did a lot of damage to this country.

Previous governments like in other cases have signed contracts that put Nigeria in a difficult position. Thank God that the current administration is trying hard to untangle all these legal brouhaha.

This government is not getting enough credit for the good things it s doing.

Obviously crooks were once in charge of running this nation.

I have applied for my wife and children’s passport since First week of November 2020. Up till date
No booklet. I hope they untangle the contract they signed out of greed

see brother