2 months ago
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Minister of Interior, Olubunmi Tunji-Ojo
The Minister for Interior, Olubunmi Tunji-Ojo, has disclosed that the operation of the e-gate system at five of the international airports in the country has resulted in the capture of 10 persons of interest in a few days.
The minister stated this when he appeared as a guest on Channels Television’e Politics Today, on Thursday evening.
Recall that President Bola Tinubu on Tuesday, unveiled the Bola Ahmed Tinubu Technology Innovation Centre to enhance Nigeria’s border security architecture.
The centre houses the Command and Control Centre of the Nigeria Immigration Service, the NIS Data Centre, the ECOWAS National Biometric Identity Card Centre, the Nigerian Visa Approval Centre, the Interior Data Centre and Passport Personalisation Centre among others.
Explaining the functionality of the e-gates, the minister said the technology was integrated with data provided by the International Criminal Police Organisation, otherwise known as INTERPOL as well as data provided by security agencies in Nigeria, to enable the capture of persons of interest.
“I don’t want to discuss too much on that for security reasons but trust me, it is already integrated to watchlists, to INTERPOL. I tell you something, in (a) few days, about 10 people were apprehended who were persons of interest. Nigeria is a no-go area for persons of interest. It’s about being able to pre-empt, being able to know and deduce crime beforehand.
“That’s what you see in the United States, in the UK, and all over the world. They tell you some people are planning terrorism and they have been arrested.
“You don’t just allow it to happen before you start looking for them. You don’t want people to come into Nigeria, commit atrocities, then you now arrest them after people have lost their lives, after properties have been lost,” he said.
The Minister also said that the introduction of the e-gates system had reduced human interference and interface in immigration operations at the airports, upon re-entry into the country.
He added that the technology was able detect fake passports with its advanced passenger information system, and also flag passengers using a stolen passport.
The minister further stated that the Nigeria Immigration Service now profiled passengers before they came into the country through the airports.
