Minister of Interior, Dr Olubunmi Tunji-Ojo has test ran the electronic gates (e-gates) mounted at the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja.

E-gate is an electronic gate — just like a scanner—that has all the modern facilities required to scan passengers who just came into the country via the airports easily and faster without the usual delay.

According to the minister on Friday, the job is 99 percent done adding that the e-gates would be deployed for operations by next week.

Among other top government officials at the airport to witness the groundbreaking initiative are the Permanent Secretary in the Ministry, Dr Aishetu Ndayako and the Comptroller-General of Immigration, Kemi Nanna Nandap.

Addressing the media, the minister said the e-gates were being deployed to eliminate human interfaces, reduce bureaucracy and make movements of passengers in and out the country seamless.

The Minister said 29 of the e-gates would be deployed in Lagos, four in Enugu and Kano while Port-Harcourt would have five.

He disclosed that the Airport infrastructure and Command and Control Centres have been subjected to different tests with fake and expired passports rejected while genuine ones were cleared.

“With this massive infrastructure, we believe that no unwanted persons or persons of interests can find their ways into Nigeria. Our security through the Airports and in the Airport domains are guaranteed.

“It is a testimony to what Mr President told us from day one on his Renewed Hope Agenda. He asked us to change the narratives and make passengers movements in and out of the country seamless.

“You can see that we have all our team here working in synergy with the authorities of the Federal Airport Authority of Nigeria, (FAAN) the Nigeria Customs Service and other stakeholders.

“I must at this point commend the Minister of Aviation, Hon Festus Keyamo (SAN) and other critical stakeholders who have made this transformation possible.”

Earlier, Tunji-Ojo said the era of unnecessary delays for passengers who come into the country due to manual scanning by immigration officers would be a thing of the past by the time the project came to fruition.

Tunji-Ojo recalled that the Federal Government had promised Nigerians that upon their arrival in the country, they would enjoy a seamless passage at the airports through e-gate, unlike in the past.

Tunji-Ojo said that with what he saw on ground, he had no doubt that, when completed, Nigerians would no longer be at the mercy of NIS officers or anybody else when they arrived in Nigeria.

The minister explained further that for the country to also add another layer to its national security architecture, it should be able to have about two or three licence verifications.

This, he said, would enable the appropriate authority to easily flag anybody or a passenger who happened to be a person of interest or on the watch list.

He added that by the time the project came on stream, it would go a long way towards supporting NIS officers and enabling them to effectively do their jobs.