A former
Minister of Interior, Abba Moro, may have short-changed the Federal
Government in an e-Pass biometric project involving a private firm,
Continental Transfer Technique Limited and the Nigeria Immigration
Service.
The
biometric project which took off in the country on September 22, 2015
was initiated by the suspended Comptroller-General of Immigration, David
Parradang, following a letter to the then Interior minister on December
18, 2014.
But Moro,
according to the document obtained by our correspondent, favoured the
private firm in the sharing formula for the proceeds of the project,
which was based on Private-Public-Partnership arrangement.
The e-Pass
project is a scheme designed by the Federal Government to ensure that
all non-ECOWAS immigrants that visit Nigeria with a Tourist or Business
Visa and intend to stay beyond an aggregate of 56 days in a year are
made to pay a certain amount of money, as advised by the Nigerian
Immigration Service.
Visitors
who stay in the country beyond 56 days but not exceeding 90 days would
pay a fee in the equivalent of $200 while 91 days to 180 days will
attract a fee equivalent to $1,000, which must be paid to Sterling Bank
Plc only.
According
to the scheme, an aggregate stay by immigrants beyond 180 days but not
exceeding 365 days would attract a fee equivalent of $2,000 while an
over-stay without due permission from the Federal Government would
attract a penalty, which is 100 per cent of the prescribed fees.
An additional fee of N8, 000 will be charged for each application form by the receiving bank.
Parradang
had written a letter to Moro on the e-Pass project, proposing that the
government should abolish the issuance of re-entry visa while, adding a
$100 fee to the $1000 being charged for the Combined Expatriate
Residence Permit and Aliens Card.
Parradang
had proposed that the service provider, CONTEC be given 15 per cent of
the $100 added to the CERPAC fee while NIS collects 15 per cent.
The letter
partly read, “We wish to further propose that the service provider be
given 15 per cent of the $100 added to the CERPAC fee, while NIS
collects another 15 per cent and the remaining 70 per cent be paid into
government coffers, as is the practice. The foregoing is respectfully
submitted for your consideration and approval please.”
But Moro,
who signed on the letter, amended the sharing formula by giving 30 per
cent to the service provider as against the 15 per cent suggested by the
immigration service.
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