President Goodluck Jonathan has asked officers and men of Nigeria immigration to be mindful of the way they conduct themselves in their official duties as their attitudes portray the image of Nigeria.
“What affects every traveler is how efficient and committed our immigration officers work at our airports. Visitors that come into the country have different impressions about our immigration officers. So they must improve; they are the image of this country. How they handle visitors matters so much. If they conduct themselves poorly, it reflects on all of us. So their conducts at the airports are keys, besides the passport.”
President Jonathan made these observations today when he launched a new 64 page e-passport at the Presidential Villa, Abuja.
The President said that the most important thing is for Nigeria to have a robust relationship with key countries so that frequent travelers may not need visas.
“One thing one must know today is that it is not the issue of 64-page passport that is key to Nigerians but the security. If our passport could be easily faked by criminals, then we will have problems. One thing again is that how can Nigerians are able to get passport easily especially those living outside this country.
He sounded it that what the immigration should be most concerned with is the issue of the image of the country, adding that the people coming into Nigeria would always perceive the country from the way those in government, in the media and in the civil society paint it with all kinds of colours.
“I want a situation that whenever you travel to another country and you raise your green passport, people will appreciate you and not when you raise your green passport, people will begin to think that that green passport signify some suspicious character.
“We are not helping ourselves when we paint ourselves the colours that we are supposed to bear.”
He appealed to all Nigerians to collectively learn how to love their own things, by painting brighter colours for the nation’s green passport.
Speaking, Minister of Interior, Comrade Abba Moro lauded Jonathan for what he described as his untiring efforts towards the successful implementation of policies and programmes of the Ministry of Interior, as well as the Nigeria Immigration Service, aimed at bringing the dividends of democracy to the door steps of Nigerians.
“the ease with which our citizens at home and in the Diaspora can obtain their Nigerian Passports, across several issuing centers in Nigeria and in 27 Missions abroad, as well as through the on-going e-Passport Intervention Exercise, is a clear demonstration of Government’s deliberate commitment towards entrenching seamless service delivery to Nigerians wherever they are found.
“I must also say a big thank you to our Service Providers and Technical Partners, who have been working assiduously in close collaboration with the Nigerian Immigration to sustain the e-passport technology since it was adopted in Nigeria in July, 2007.”
Moro added that the introduction of the 64-page Nigerian e-passport was a demand-driven initiative to meet the needs of frequent Nigerian travellers.
He explained that based on some recommendations arising from the operational experiences of the Nigeria Immigration Service, his ministry recently approved some reforms on the Nigerian e-Passport, adding that the reforms approved by his ministry according to Moro, include the newly introduced 64 page e-passport. [myad]
