President Muhammadu Buhari has cancelled all e-passport printing contracts abroad, saying that it will now be the sole responsibility of the Nigerian Security Printing & Minting Company.
Femi Adesina, special adviser to the president on media and publicity, made this known in a statement released on Thursday.
This new directive means all existing contracts concerning printing passports and other documents will not be renewed.
The Nigerian Security Printing & Minting Company (NSPMC), popularly known as The Mint, was established in 1963 and was saddled with the responsibility of printing the nation’s currency and security documents for ministries, departments and agencies of government, banks and other blue-chip companies.
At inception, the Mint was the largest banknote and security documents specialist printing company in West Africa until its performance dwindled.
After his appointment as governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Godwin Emefiele set new targets for the company including zero importation of currency which has been achieved since 2014.