Aregbesola cautions Nigerians with dual citizenship against applying for e-passport

Minister of Interior, Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola, has cautioned
Nigerians with dual citizenship against applying for the
e-passport.

Speaking at the 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 the 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.”