Goli Innocent 
The Federal Government through the Ministry of Interior has initiated reforms to strengthen the nation’s passport against identity theft and promote transparency during its insurance process.
The Minister of Interior, Dr Olubunmi Tunji-Ojo disclosed this during his meeting with the European Union (EU) Ambassador to Nigeria, Samuela Isopi, in Abuja over the weekend.
Tunji-Ojo said, “We have commenced the process to unbottle the bottlenecks in our international passport application and collection process. Today, we have made a huge progress.
“We are also working on ways to reduce identity theft. We want to make sure the green passport regains its pride and integrity.
“If we can solve crime and migration problems in Nigeria, Africa will be better for it.
“Due to the boundaries Africa shares with the EU, our problems are more of an EU problem than any other part of the world.
And because we are committed to solving this, we will explore all avenues.”
READ ALSO;
- Eu Ban: Nigerian Food Items Still Contain Pesticides
- EU Donates €440,000 To Aid Research Programme In Nigeria
- Europe Likely To Experience Migration Crisis
He Beckoned on EU as a zone to back the federal government’s programs in the area of technology deployment to increase its potency in border management.
“The European Union is important to the socio-economic development of Nigeria. Our relationship with the EU is historical in terms of, but not limited, to bilateral support.”
He also briefed on plans to depopulate the country’s correctional facilities, stating that over 70 percent of the 79,000 inmates nationwide were awaiting trial.
“We have over 4,000 inmates in the facilities for their inability to pay various fines.
We believe we can reduce the number of inmates in our correctional facilities by about 40 percent if we explore non-custodial alternatives, as provided for in the Correctional Service Act,” the minister added.
Isopi pledged the EU’s Ambassador pledged the EU’s support via technical management of illegal migration, human trafficking, and smuggling.
