President Bola Tinubu has commissioned the Bola Ahmed Tinubu Technology Innovation Center (BATTIC) built by the Nigerian Immigration Service (NIS) under the Ministry of Interior. He described the building as part of his administration’s commitment to ushering impactful changes into the country.
The establishment of the technology facility is aimed at improving Nigeria’s security network, facilitating investors’ confidence in the country, and promoting an easier form of business operations across the country.
During the inauguration of the ultra-modern complex, Tinubu stressed the operational areas of the facility while mentioning that “This state-of-the-art complex comprises seven key components, including a Data Centre, Command and Control Centre, Visa Approval Centre, ECOWAS Card Centre, Solar Farm, and Passport Centre.”
While stressing the potential of the building, the President stressed the security awareness advantages as part of the complex opportunities. “The centre will also profile high-risk passengers, suspicious travel patterns, enhance video surveillance in unnamed areas, especially along the border areas, as well as cross-referencing of data with other international organizations,” he said.
Tinubu also commended the NIS for its breakthrough in the project. He emphasized how the complex will drive the pace of technological innovation in Nigeria.
“This project embarked upon by you is a great accomplishment at this complex. It will help Nigeria harness technology to drive development. By 2025 we could have achieved 100 new passport regimes. We acknowledge that a passport is more of a security document than a travelling document and must be treated as such so you. What you have achieved has given this country a great reputation not just within ECOWAS but among other comity of nations,” he added.
The president also asked Nigerians to embrace the flexibility change that comes with technology. “We believe that if we rejig our immigration and air travel, we will benefit tremendously from the opportunity it offers for ease of entry and exit,” he concluded.
Following the grand opening of the technological centre, Nigeria now joined six other African countries that possess a well-integrated passenger security system. The security wall innovation was a project initiated 18 years ago under the late former President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua.
Composition of the NIS Technology Innovation Center
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The ultra-modern technology centre houses a command/control and a data centre. It has the ECOWAS biometric card production centre which is located within the headquarters of the Nigeria Immigration Service, Abuja.
The complex as well comprises some of the most advanced technological security solutions that compete globally such as a Data Centre, Command and Control Centre, Visa Approval Centre (VAC), Solar Farm, and Passport Personalization Centre.
These were carefully built to combat security challenges such as insurgencies, banditry, cybercrimes, smuggling, and other trans-border-related challenges that have usually gone undetected.
While expressing the operational activities of the facility, the Minister of Interior, Olubunmi Tunji-Ojo said that the centre will capture a joint security network under the ministry.
“The ultra-modern complex will not only serve as the nerve centre of the immigration service, but also the entire paramilitary agencies under the Ministry of Interior such that security intelligence can be shared, stored, and processed seamlessly, and in real-time.”
He again explained how the Command-and-Control Service is structured to gather necessary information about individuals and prevent imported threats.
“The new Command and Control Centre ensures that every person entering into the country is pre-profiled through the Advance Passenger Information System (APIS) and provides for the service an opportunity to flag down persons of interest at all international airports in the country,” he added.
In addition, the complex, amongst other critical components, also houses an 8.3-petabyte data centre that will become the backbone of the ministry’s digital infrastructure in the Ministry of Interior.
As part of the security consciousness efforts, applauded the state-of-the-art technology-driven passenger Surveillance Centre built by the Nigeria Immigration Service (NIS). This led to the flagging and arrest of 10 persons of interest within one week of installation.
Additional promised potentials
The Special Adviser to President Tinubu on Media and Public Communication, Mr. Sunday Dare also acknowledged the efforts of NIS under the Ministry of Interior towards the completion of the facility.
He expressed that the technology centre signals Nigeria’s digital compliance with the A-Z of the Advanced Passenger Information System, APIS, as stipulated by ICAO providing a new, modern, and technology-compliant system.
“The system protects our borders and enhances national security. It has an 8.3 gigabytes system and has 6 components. The modern facility functions to detect suspicious travel patterns, pick out persons of interest, biometrics, real-time 24-hour surveillance amongst others,” he explained.
The technology innovation building stresses the potential of the country in combating key security issues with digital transformation.
While the ECOWAS biometric card production centre helps to prevent fraud attacks that expose the country to external threats, the immigration service data centre will be responsible for collating service exchange data and storage for future consultations.
In addition, the building possesses a top monitoring center through its interior data resources which uses real-time technologies such as CCTV, drones, and sensors for border surveillance.
