“The collection of biometric data is a common practice for government authorities in Nigeria…”

Nigeria’s federal government is using biometrics to monitor foreigners in the country.

As AllAfrica reports, the revelation came by way of Minister of Interior Lt. Gen. AbdulRahman Danbazau at a panel discussion held during the opening of the International Press Institute Congress in Abuja. Danbazau suggested that the biometric data would allow authorities monitor the movements of migrants and to see who has overstayed their visas. He also framed the move as a means of accommodating free travel between members of ECOWAS, an economic partnership between numerous west African states.

Danbazau did not indicate what kinds of biometric data are being collected, but said that it will be managed by the Nigeria Immigration Service.

The collection of biometric data is a common practice for government authorities in Nigeria – perhaps too common, as officials with the UN and OPEC and even the Nigerian President have decried the overlapping and duplicate biometric registration efforts of various government agencies over the last couple of years. But given that this latest project would seem to concern only non-citizens, it may not exacerbate the duplication issue anyway.

Source: AllAfrica