Embrace Digital Passport, Immigration System To End Ink Era, Expert Tells FG

The federal government has been urged to fully embrace digital passport and immigration systems following Europe’s transition from physical passport stamping to electronic border processing.

Nigerian travel enthusiast and global nomad, Ogundana Mcdolly, popularly known as The9jaboy in a statement yesterday, made the call after his recent trip through the Charles de Gaulle Airport in Paris, where he experienced Europe’s newly operational Entry/Exit System, which replaces traditional passport stamps with digital records.

In a statement titled, “The End of the Ink Era: What We Lose When Passport Stamps Go Digital,” the traveller described how he arrived in Paris on May 23, 2026, expecting the usual Schengen entry stamp on his Nigerian passport, only to discover that his movement had been recorded electronically.

According to him, “the development signalled the gradual end of an era in global travel documentation, especially across Europe and North America, where paperless immigration systems are becoming the norm.”

Mcdolly noted that while many tourists might see passport stamps as mere souvenirs, holders of the Nigerian passport often view them as proof of overcoming strict visa requirements and immigration hurdles.

He said, “As the most travelled Nigerian using a Nigerian passport, with over 1,000 visa entry and exit stamps across my passports, each stamp represented a hurdle crossed and a story captured.”

Mcdolly explained that the digitalisation of immigration processes could significantly benefit frequent Nigerian travellers who often struggle with passport renewals caused by exhausted pages rather than expired validity periods.

He described the Nigerian passport renewal process as stressful and time-consuming, noting that high-frequency travellers sometimes run out of pages within months due to repeated visa stamps and stickers.

“The adoption of electronic travel records by Western countries would help preserve passport pages and allow travellers to maximise the full lifespan of their passports.

“The booklet transforms from a rapidly depleting consumable into a durable identity card, a token to be scanned rather than a ledger to be filled,” he stated.