By Hillary Asemota
The Nigeria Immigration Service (NIS) and Continental Transfert Technique Limited (CTTL), a subsidiary of CONTEC Global collaborating through the Federal Government’s Public Private Partnership (PPP) initiative recently commissioned a state-of-the-art Combined Expatriate Resident Permit and Alien (CERPAC) facility for speedy delivery of enhanced security cards, in Port Harcourt, Rivers State Command.
The acting Comptroller General (CG) of the Nigeria Immigration Service, Mr. Idris Isah Jere, who spoke through the Comptroller, Rivers State Command, A. J Kwasau, assured stakeholders, representatives of companies and multinationals that henceforth expatriates cards will be processed and produced without delay.
He said: “In order to achieve this feat, we liased with Continental Transfert Technique Limited (CTTL), our technical partner to upgrade the machines and equipment necessary for the smooth running of the centre.
It is this robust synergy that has led to the birth of this new CERPAC production centre which we have all gathered here to commission, he added.
“Since assumption of office, we have at various times interfaced with the stakeholders who are the direct beneficiaries of the facilities issued by Service to reiterate our commitment towards efficient service delivery with respect to the issuance of CERPAC.” He said.
He expressed excitement that with the newly installed facility at the Command bottlenecks that previously delayed card will be eliminated.
He said: “All applications for Regularization of Stay (ROS), Renewal of CERPAC, Change of Employment (COE) and Re-designation can henceforth be channelled to the Command for processing.”
The NIS boss, said acknowledged that the Service is charged with the issuance of Combined Expatriate Residence Permit and Aliens Card (CERPAC), in collaboration with CTTL, its technical partner.
He said: “CERPAC is a permit that enables non-Nigerian to reside in Nigeria to carry out activities as specified in the permit or to accompany a resident or a citizen of Nigeria in accordance to the laws of Nigeria.”
“After a successful application of the expatriate quota in the country, the business would be in a position to process a subject to regularization (STR) for its expatriates which will enable such expatriates to get the mandatory CERPAC that will allow him to work and live in Nigeria.”
According to him, CERPAC is a permit that enables non-Nigerian to reside in Nigeria to carry out activities as specified in the permit or to accompany a resident or a citizen of Nigeria in accordance to the laws of Nigeria, adding that the card is embedded with enhanced security features for identifying and tracking foreign residents as well as monitoring their activities in Nigeria.
Companies present are the commissioning include: Total, Julius Berger, NLNG, Daewoo, Agip, Shell Petroleum, Indorama and others.