Minister of Interior, Mr Rauf Aregbesola, has cautioned Nigerians with dual citizenship against applying for the e-passport.
Speaking at Nigerian High Commission in Tokyo on Friday during the rollout of the e-passport, the minister told Nigerian-Japanese who have accepted Japanese citizenship that a new visa regime that would grant them multiple entries into Nigeria up to the validity of their Japanese passports would commence soon.
He said, “I am aware that Japan does not accept dual citizenship, although Nigeria does. Because of this, I urge every Nigerian who renounces he or her Nigerian citizenship not to apply for the e-passport at this centre or anywhere.
“I will like to assure those Nigerian-Japanese who have accepted Japanese citizenship that a new visa regime that will grant them multiple entries into Nigeria up to the validity of their Japanese passports will commence soon.”
He said the Federal Government had received several requests from both the Nigerian community and Nigerian Embassy in Japan on the need to open a passport issuance centre in Tokyo due to the distance Nigerians had to cover in order to obtain it.
In response to these requests, Aregbesola explained that President Muhammadu Buhari, in his commitment to the citizens and ease of doing business, approved the issuance of both e-passports and biometric visa in Japan.
He added, “Suffice to say that this provision and service is not limited to Tokyo, Japan; we will open tomorrow (Saturday) another e-passport and biometric visa facilities in our Embassy in Seoul, South Korea, bringing to a total of 44 foreign missions, 43 local and four front offices where Nigeria Immigration Service issues passports to our citizens.”
The minister disclosed that the biometric visa was an improved security on the current vignette visa, noting that it would assist the national security in combatting transnational organized crime.
He stated, “It is important to state that this new visa and passport regime connects with MIDAS (Migration Information and Data Analysis System) which is linked with the INTERPOL data. This simply means criminals and their affiliates can no longer use our system anywhere in the world to perpetrate their crimes.”
Punch