National e-ID card not substitute for international passport, says NIMC

The National Identity Management Commission, NIMC, has
cleared the air on the recent report that the National e-
Identity Card will soon be used as an alternative travelling
document to the international passport .
Reacting to the report, Head, Card Management Service,
NIMC, Mr. Tunji Durodola, said “the Commission cannot be
canvassing the use of the new national e-ID Card as an
alternative to the international passport when that is the
exclusive statutory responsibility of the Nigeria Immigration
Service (NIS).”
According to Durodola, although one of the 13 applets found
in the National e-ID Card has travel functionality for certain
types of travels, the decision to adopt the e-ID Card and the
operational modalities remain the responsibility of the NIS.
“If and when it decides on this, the process can then be
defined and implemented by the NIS which has the sole
responsibility for migration management in Nigeria as the
issuing authority for passport and travel documents in line
with ICAO regulations.”
He explained that even where there are regional
requirements in the ECOWAS, which is part of the reasons
for the inclusion of the ICAO-Travel functionality in the e-ID
Card, it can only be adopted and implemented by the NIS
which has the responsibility by law to provide international
passport and related documents for citizens who wish to
travel out of the country.
He said that the Commission was deeply embarrassed by
the recent reports and therefores clarified that although the
applet on the Card issued to Nigerians is a bonafide
Machine Readable Travel Document (MRTD), recognized by
the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), the NIS
has to approve its use before it can become a travel
document recognized by NIS and therefore all such
institutions with which NIS has bilateral and or
collaborating/reciprocating relationship because travel
documents are the sole, statutory and exclusive
responsibility of the NIS.
Durodola said: “For any country to recognize the use of the
National e-ID Card for cross-border travel, its usage must
be the product of a bilateral agreement and NIS runs the
show in that respect, we have only provided an early and
appropriate means of achieving that so we do optimize the
resources we have as is done in Europe. That’s all we did.
For this to be possible, the Nigeria Immigration Service
alone not even with NIMC, must approve the process.”
He regrets the impression that has been given and the
embarrassment to the Management of both NIMC and the
NIS who have a very cordial and meaningful working
relationship on the management of the ongoing enrolment of
citizens and legal residents, noting that “NIMC has enough
on its hands; managing the central depository of a single
version of truth on individuals identities in the country, to
want to canvass the takeover of the statutory responsibility
of another agency.”
“We are mindful of the developments in the ECOWAS Region
about national identity cards and just wanted to be ready
ahead of time, but while informing and educating Nigerians
on the use cases of the Card, we did not at any time say
that the Card can be used as an alternative to the
international passport; but it was necessary that Nigerians
know it has an applet that can function as a travel
document,” he said.