By Ken Chiwendu
In a move to curb identity fraud, data breaches, and deter security risks globally, the Federal Government has announced implementation of a new consular biometric data verification policy.
Minister of Foreign Affairs, Yusuf Tuggar who disclosed this, says through a verified platform with inter-agency support, the Ministry has officially approved “http://ASFAAR.ng”, a digital platform for verification of Nigerian travellers.
Yusuf Tuggar was presented with an overview of the system’s features, including real-time data processing for destinations such as the Gulf and Arab countries, a key destination for Nigerian travellers and businesses.
The Minister highlighted the mutual benefits of the framework, reinforcing Visa integrity trust, and Compliance. However, it remains optional for individual countries to key into the initiative.
While implementation is in process, Lebanon’s Ambassador suggested a bilateral agreement to further ease consular services and processes with partner countries to enhance travel security.
The new policy is however not meant to replace consular services but enhance them.
