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B N W: Biafra Nigeria World News |
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Foreigners shun new ID card registration scheme
NIGERIA is yet to make progress in its drive to register foreigners in the country.
Of the 300,000 foreign nationals targeted for the scheme, only 35,000 have so far registered through the Combined Expatriates Residence Permit and Alien Card (CERPAC).
The project is being handled by Continental Transfer Technique Limited (CONTEC).
The scheme, which has gulped N4 million, was awarded to the multinational company in 2002 by the Federal Government.
The new computerised card for the foreigners is free for nationals of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) member countries
Other Africans are to pay $100 while citizens of Commonwealth countries will pay $250 for the card. Nationals of any other nation outside these two groups are $350.
Under the deal, CONTEC will foot 70 per cent of the project while the Federal Government will defray the remaining 30 per cent.
CONTEC has now one year to complete the task of ensuring that expatriates obtain the requisite resident permits. The scheme will also provide adequate and reliable/verifiable data on the activities (occupations, etc) of such nationals and to ensure that their actual businesses are not different from the approval granted them by the Nigeria Immigration Services (NIS).
At a joint briefing in Abuja at the weekend, the Deputy Chairman of the House of Representatives Committee on Internal Affairs, Mohammed Ahmed Almakura, could not guarantee whether the three-year contract of the company would be extended given the poor responses of the foreign nationals. He said that expatriates in the country are not ready to comply with the nation's immigration regulation rules.
Almakura said the extension of tenure for the firm is an executive matter. "We encourage our citizens living outside Nigeria to comply with their host nation's laws and in some countries they are still facing harassment and here we are..."
Misgivings about the conduct of the aliens is predicated on the fact that CONTEC entered into the agreement with the Federal Government on a projection from existing records which put the number of expatriates in Nigeria at 300,000 as at 2002.
The chairman of the company in Nigeria, Hassan Ibeto lamented that, "only 35,000 of the 300,000 have come forward for registration, while the projections we are working with in a country like Togo is 50,000 and everything is going on smoothly there."
A legislative proposal, Biometric Application Bill is pending before the senate. It seeks among others the repatriation of any expatriate who is not registered with CONTEC by December 2005.
Similarly, any immigration officer found to be collaborating with the offender would be relieved of his appointment. The bill is expected to have its first reading next week.
Meanwhile, a new security devise, 'Supergate' is soon to be installed in all the leading airports in the country as part of the CONTEC deal with the government.
The Chief Executive Officer, Mr. Benoy Berry, stressed that the new security entrance devise already in use at the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja, is one of the many equipment being put at the disposal of the Immigration to ensure that security at the various points of entry is compliant with international provisions.
The General Manager Nigeria, Mr. Ayo Joseph noted that the registration and security device embody, Arcanet Software of the United Kingdom (UK).
He added that it was specially developed for the project in Nigeria and a licence and operating mechanism that cannot be reproduced anywhere in the world.
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