Terminating E-passport Booklets Contract Will Cost N22bn, Reps Tell FG

The House of Representatives yesterday cautioned the federal government against terminating a contract signed with a private firm, Iris Smart Technologies Limited for the production of electronic passport booklets.

The lawmakers said if the contract is terminated, procuring the equipment capable of putting the latest security features in the Nigerian e-passport will cost the government about N22 billion.

They gave the caution during the consideration and adoption of recommendations of the report by the House Ad-Hoc Committee to Investigate the Proposed Domestication and Processing of Nigerian International Passports.

The committee chaired by Ibrahim Muhammad Hafiz from Kano, said an e-passport project is technology based and not a security printing task, as with the Machine-Readable Passport era; that the security printing aspect of an e-passport constitutes only 13 per cent of the various components of an e-passport booklet.

It stated that the domestication of the manufacturing of e-passport booklets does not eliminate the need for foreign exchange and importation of components.

The committee also explained that an e-passport booklet is an active electronic device, as opposed to the old MRP, which is a merely printed booklet; that the chip embedded in the e-passport has a security access module that allows for a ‘handshake’ with and amongst other devices and equipment within the e-passport network; and that the system does not allow the “infiltration” or use of non-prequalified third-party devices or other booklets within the network.

It said the current management of the NIS initiated the domestication process, which requires 90 to 180 days to fully implement the process and other processes of the passport, which will solve the issue of scarcity.

The panel further said the forex generated by Iris Technologies and the NIS through the sales of passports in foreign countries “should be unlocked by CBN and allow NIS and Iris Technologies to have access to the revenue component being generated,” to solve the issue of booklet scarcity before the domestication process.

“Time will be of the essence if the contract expressly states it or if there are clauses to show that parties intended time to be of the essence. It will be to the legal detriment of the federal government to unilaterally terminate this agreement for any reason until it runs its course, which is the production of 10 million e-passports or the current remainder under the circumstances.

“The Central Bank of Nigeria and the Nigerian Security Printing and Minting Plc should be further advised to abide by this opinion in the overall best interest of the Federal Government, in order not to incur unnecessary liability on our lean financial resources through avoidable litigation or other costlier dispute resolution mechanisms.

“Since the current domestication project was initiated by the Nigerian Immigration Service, in conjunction with the Infrastructure Concession Regulatory Commission, and based on the reports and presentations by all the relevant stakeholders, especially the ICRC, the process was fair, equitable, transparent, and followed all international standards. Therefore, the process should be allowed to be concluded.

“There are over N22 billion worth of systems and equipment, both local and international, in this secured e-passport network. Therefore, if a new booklet solution provider is appointed, this technology infrastructure would have to be discarded. This investment would be lost, and a new network must be purchased and implemented at a greater cost to the Federal Government,” the report further reads.