DOHA OVER 300 Nigerian expatriates in Qatar registered to get their old machine-readable passports (MRP) replaced with new chip-based e-passports during the three-day exercise, which concluded at Al Aseef hotel on Sunday.
President of Nigeria in Diaspora, Qatar (NIDO), OJ Millar said that the turnout surpassed expectations.
“We had expected around 130 persons coming for the registration because only 100 people had initially shown interest before the officials from Nigeria came for the exercise.
The response on the first day made us readjust our plans in order to attend to all the applicants,” Millar said.
Those who could not register for e-passport in Doha would have to do it in Nigeria before December 31, the deadline set by the government, he said.
A team of officials from the Nigerian embassy in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Nigeria Immigration Service from Abuja came to Doha to conduct the exercise in collaboration with NIDO, a community association of Nigerians in Qatar.
The team was led by Ken Okeh, minister/head of chancellery at the Nigerian embassy in the UAE.
Madara Wakili, financial attaché at the embassy, and Yankasai Abdul, Habibu Almu and Olowooye Oluwagbayi from the Nigeria Immigration Service headquarters in Abuja were the other members of the team.
The officials said the data collected during the exercise would be processed in Abuja after which e-passport would be issued to the applicants.
It would take three weeks for the e-passports to be brought to Doha for distribution, the officials said, adding that Qatar was the second country in the Middle East after the UAE where Nigerians got the opportunity of registering them for e-passport outside the country.
Millar said the preference given to Nigerian expats in Qatar for e-passport registration proved the importance of Qatar for the Nigerian government.
He hoped that both Qatar and the UAE would also be the first to get permanent machines for the processing and issuance of e-passport in the region.
Meanwhile, commenting on the exercise, Dr Sammani Abdullahi, a lecturer at Qatar University, said: “I am highly impressed by the level of coordination for the whole exercise.
I also observed that the officials came with the forms we filled earlier which showed that the forms were forwarded to Abuja for attention.
If they had not rendered this service to us in Doha, I would have had to travel to Nigeria with all my family members to register and get e-passport.” He thanked Nigerian Ambassador to the UAE and Qatar, HE Alhaji Bashir Yuguda for responding to the call of the community in Qatar.
Another Nigerian expat, Segun Obanoyen said the exercise saved many people the stress and cost of travelling back to Nigeria to meet the deadline.
He thanked the NIDO executives for coordinating with the Nigerian embassy in Abu Dhabi and making the exercise a success.
Itodo Peter, a Vodafone staff, said: “I am happy with the exercise and appreciate all those who contributed to make this programme a reality.”
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