United States to assist Nigeria with biometric border security
A delegation from the U.S. embassy in Nigeria has met with the Nigerian Minister of the Interior to discuss the implementation of a biometric system to help Nigeria in its fight against insurgency in the country.
According to a report in Daily Trust, U.S. Counter-terrorism Deputy Assistant Anne Witkowsky led the delegations and said the U.S. can introduce an information and communication system based on biometrics, to help the country monitor its borders more effectively.
“It is powered by biometrics and fingerprints, the most powerful identification technology available today,” Dwight Brown, the delegation’s program manager said. “You can change your name, you can get a new passport but you can’t change your fingerprints and this system checks the fingerprint of every traveler that comes through it.”
According to the Daily Trust report, Nigerian Minister of the Interior, Abba Morro said that current security conditions in the country have made it imperative that the Nigerian government involve ‘friends of the country’ to address these problems.
No stranger to biometric systems, Nigeria has been home to a number of significant deployments as of late. Recently, the Nigerian Tourism Development Corporation (NTDC) imposed plans to create an electronic database of all hotel staff in a bid to curb criminal activities in the sector.
Also, the Nigeria Immigration Service has announced it will install biometrics equipment across all border posts in the country.
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