E-gate to ease clearance of international passengers — Minister

The Minister of Interior, Dr Olubunmi Tunji-Ojo, says Nigerians returning from foreign countries will soon enjoy their arrivals at the nation’s airports with the introduction of e-gate. E-gate is an electronic gate — just like a scanner—that has all the modern facilities required to scan passengers who just came into the country via the airports easily and faster without the usual delay. The minister made the promise on Monday while inspecting the Nigeria Immigration Service’s (NIS) ongoing installation of an e-gate (scanner) at the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja. He said the era of unnecessary delays for passengers who come into the country due to manual scanning by immigration officers would be a thing of the past by the time the project came to fruition.

Tunji-Ojo recalled that the Federal Government had promised Nigerians that upon their arrival in the country, they would enjoy a seamless passage at the airports through e-gate, unlike in the past. “So, I came to inspect the ongoing e-gate project, and I am happy with the progress of work being done so far; eight e-gates are to be installed at the Abuja airport. But I told them that eight would not be acceptable to me and that they have to increase it by two to make it 10. So far, they have succeeded in installing some, and from the assurances given by the contractor, the remaining ones will be delivered before the end of the month, to make it 10 in all.”

The minister explained that the greater the number of e-gates, the shorter the waiting period for passengers.  “You know, the more the e-gate, the easier it will be for passengers to be cleared. Looking at the one that had been tested, I learned that it takes about 30 seconds to clear an individual. This, I believe, is a record time anywhere in the world; and having looked at the solutions and the hardware, it is unarguably one of the best.’’