Nigeria has launched the ECOWAS National Biometric Identity Card (ENBIC), becoming the seventh country in the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) to adopt the digital credential.
The modern ID card was introduced on November 28 and replaces the ECOWAS Travel Certificate and Resident Permit, an outdated, paper-based document.
Comptroller-General of Immigration, Kemi Nandap, explains that ENBIC integrates a “biometric core, anchored on high-quality facial and fingerprint data, creates a secure and verifiable link between the holder and the credential. It will strengthen identity verification, curb document fraud, and disrupt the activities of cross-border criminal networks.”
With the ENBIC in hand, citizens of ECOWAS nation states no longer need a passport to travel to other ECOWAS member-states.
Interior Minister Olubunmi Tunji-Ojo called the launch “a major milestone in regional security and migration management. ENBIC is the backbone of a modern identity and security system capable of transforming border control and intelligence gathering, with a reliable identification that is essential to national and regional security.” He emphasized that the secure ID card “will revolutionize travel across West Africa while promoting economic growth and renewing the fight against trans-border crimes and irregular migration.”
Nigeria recently established an advanced immigration technology complex, where ECOWAS Biometric Cards are produced.
The ECOWAS card initiative comes months after Burkina Faso, Niger, and Mali withdrew from ECOWAS introduced their own biometric passports.
Sources/References:
Biometric Update
ID Tech
Leadership Nigeria
Nairometrics
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