The Nigerian Immigration Service and a firm contracted by the Federal Government for the production of Nigerian passports, Iris Smart Technologies Limited, have blamed the Central Bank of Nigeria’s foreign exchange policy for the scarcity of booklets.
The firm also accused the Nigeria Security Printing and Minting Company Plc of sabotaging its efforts after failing to secure the contract for the production of the passports.
The Managing Director, Iris Smart Technologies Limited, Yinka Fisher, made the allegation in Abuja on Tuesday when he appeared before the House of Representatives Ad Hoc Committee to Investigate the Proposed Domestication and Processing of Nigerian International Passports.
The committee also grilled the Comptroller-General of the Nigerian Immigration Service, Idris Jere, at its investigative hearing.
Fisher told the committee that prior to their engagement by the FG, the country had a shabby passport administration.
He said, “Today, we have a system where we have a central processing centre with a strong inventory control mechanism. Last year, we delivered a record number of booklets to NIS, which was about 1.9 million.
“This year, for the first four months, we have delivered nearly 800,000 booklets. We are on course for another record supply this year.
“The Nigeria Immigration Service gave the Nigeria Security Printing and Minting Plc the opportunity to print the first set of booklets. When they were delivered, it was substandard. The government discarded them and decided to have an international tender for the production and embedding of chips.
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