MINISTER of Interior, Dr Olubunmi Tunji-Ojo, has said that President Bola Tinubu is bent on giving Nigerians the required sweet experience across the country’s airports through his Ease of Doing Business policy.
Tunji-Ojo stated this during an inspection of the User Acceptance Test (UAT) of the E-gate already installed at Terminal 2 of the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Lagos.
The minister, who expressed satisfaction with the job already done at the Lagos airport terminal, disclosed how one of the eight gates at the Nnamdi Azikwe Airport at Abuja is 100 percent done and awaiting commissioning.
Speaking on the ease of doing business at the airports, the minister said, “It also helps with perception of the government. When you travel to New York and you get to JFK, as a foreigner, you are on the queue. The American carries his passport and goes in easily. That gives him lots of confidence that he is in his country. This is called sweet experience and Mr President is bent on giving Nigerians the sweet experience. It is about changing the narrative and telling us that things we see in other places can work in Nigeria.”
On the already installed User Acceptance Test (UAT) of the E-gate at the Lagos airport, Tunji-Ojo said, “The Nnamdi Azikiwe Airport, Abuja is already 100 percent complete but this is just one terminal of about eight gates. This is delivered and ready for commissioning. Lagos has three wings. This is Terminal 2. We have the D and E wings. Now you see that the gates have been installed. What they are doing now is called the User Acceptance Test (UAT) which is the last stage and by Monday morning, this wing will have been completed 100 percent. As it is, it is already installed. So, we just need to align the sensor.
“From here, we will move the the D Wing, which has four gates because we can’t block the three entrances at the same time. We can’t work simultaneously because of ease of passengers. So, we have to be taking one after the other. The assurance we have is that by next weekend, the D Wing will have been fully completed. We will then be left with the E wing which has eight gates. This may take us maximum of two weeks.
“In the next three weeks, Lagos will be 100 percent good to go then we will move to other airports like Kano, Enugu and Port Harcourt, which each has four gates. This will be faster. Lagos airport alone has 21 gates. Lagos is where you have the major traffic.
“President Bola Tinubu became president just last year and he started work immediately on this. This is not late for the administration. The electronic fares are important because of the enhancement of national security. This is connected to the database all over the world. We are making life easier for Nigerians and at the same time securing the country. The passengers get more comfortable and it’s more convenient but at the same time the nation is secured.”
On passport delivery, he remarked, “We have completed the whole solution but when we came onboard, we realised that the Nigeria Immigration Service (NIS), the data centre was not really there. We were leveraging on a private company data centre and we appreciate them for that assistance. We think that it is better to create a permanent solution to problems rather than quick fixes. We could have done it in February but we had to build our data centre from scratch to be able to keep the integrity of our data and national security intact.”
“This is more important. It is about national security and I can assure you that has been completed. The data centre, which is one of the biggest in Nigeria, is comparable with anyone you can find anywhere in the world. The command and control centre, which we have built, even IATA came to Nigeria and say this is comparable to even the best in the world.
“We believe that under the ‘Renewed Hope’ administration that Nigerians deserve what is best and what can be compared all over the world. So, we have built the data centre, sorted the passport delivery solution and done the final presentation in terms of technology deliverables and the tracking solution, which will all be embedded in the application we have, so we don’t create multiple lines of failure. We have done all these and by June we should be able to start. We will not start from everywhere because if you overload the system, you can cause a system damage.”
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