The Nigeria Immigration Service commissioned a bank of automated e-passport gates at Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Lagos, on Thursday, 9 June 2022, in an effort to reduce the long queues that have long been a source of complaint from arriving and departing passengers.
The biometric gates allow holders of Nigeria's e-passport, as well as passport holders from a number of partner countries, to clear immigration checks without manual processing by an officer, cutting average clearance times significantly during peak periods according to officials at the commissioning.
Part of a Wider Modernisation Push
The Comptroller General of Immigration said the Lagos rollout was the first phase of a wider plan to introduce similar e-gates at Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja, and other major airports, subject to funding and infrastructure readiness at each location.
Frequent flyers welcomed the upgrade but noted that gains from the e-gates could be undermined if airport-wide congestion elsewhere in the terminal, including baggage handling and customs, was not addressed as part of the same modernisation effort.
