The national identification number will be one of the requirements for obtaining or renewing international passports in Nigeria from 2018.
Comptroller General of the Nigeria Immigration Service (NIS), Mohammed Babandede, made this known in Abuja on Tuesday.
Babandede was speaking with State House correspondents shortly after a meeting of the database harmonisation committee.
The new condition, according to him, was to have a centralised database for Nigeria on one hand and to improve the business environment on the other.
He said that NIS intended to capture no fewer than 180 million persons in three years, up from the 20 million Nigerians that had so far been captured in the NIN database.
His words: “We have agreed that from January 1, 2018, anybody who is going to apply for Nigerian passport, whether renewal or fresh, must first have a national identity number,” he said.
“I have also given the directive that any foreigner resident in Nigeria will not get his permit renewed until he has a NIMC number. To achieve this, NIMC and passport numbers will be harmonised and we are committed to allow NIMC in immigration offices.
“There is no need for you to go and have your biometric captured by NIMC and then you come and capture again with the Nigeria immigration.
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“Once you give us your NIMC number, we will collect the biometric from NIMC and produce your passport. That is the intention to do in all other agencies.”
He added that NIMC staff would be working in passport offices to give out national identity card to those who might want to collect their passports.
“We should be able to access it, we should be able to know whether you have paid your tax or not….
“If you are coming through the airport and you want to leave Nigeria, we should be able to know that this guy has not paid his tax and you should be able to pay your tax before you depart. We are looking at one e-government and it is possible.”
