‎FAAN to stop use of physical ID for domestic travel

‎…introduces V-Pass facial recognition system

The Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN) is rolling out V-Pass, a biometric identity verification system designed to make domestic air travel faster, safer and more seamless.

FAAN’s Director, Public Affairs and Consumer Protection, Henry Agbebire said in a statement that the V-Pass will let passengers confirm their identities through facial recognition, reducing the need to rely on physical ID documents at airports and will give travellers a secure digital identity through a one-time enrolment process.

“Nigerian passengers will register with their NIN and facial biometric capture, while foreign passengers will enrol using international passports through OCR and biometric authentication. The system will check passengers before they enter restricted areas and again before boarding. This dual-verification process is meant to prevent impersonation, unauthorized access and identity fraud, while giving security agencies greater confidence in passenger authentication. During rollout, passengers will be able to use self-service kiosks or get help from FAAN staff.

“E-Gates will automate access to controlled areas, reduce queues and improve passenger flow. Developers say biometric processing will take less than 30 seconds after enrolment, while first-time registration will take about one minute. V-Pass will also give airlines secure access to flight schedules, passenger manifests and boarding statistics through a digital platform. FAAN will benefit from a Central Management System that tracks passenger movement, generates analytics and supports future integration with other airport systems. FAAN and Verxid said data privacy remains central to the project.

“The system complies with the Nigeria Data Protection Regulation (NDPR), and passenger data will not be stored on kiosks or handheld devices. Before deployment, FAAN and Verxid plan to launch a nationwide sensitization campaign. The campaign will run across TV, radio, social media, airport announcements and airline advisories to help passengers understand how V-Pass works. A live Proof of Concept demonstration and technical site assessment will also be carried out before full rollout,” he said.