The Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN) is set to introduce a facial recognition technology, V-Pass, to transform domestic air travel. 

The system will enable passengers to verify their identities digitally, reducing reliance on physical identification documents at airports. 

FAAN’s director of public affairs and consumer protection, Henry Agbebire, disclosed this in a statement on Thursday in Lagos. 

Mr Agbebire said the initiative was developed in partnership with Verxid Technologies Limited following strategic discussions between both organisations. 

He said deployment plans, security measures and passenger experience improvements were key areas discussed during the meeting. 

FAAN’s director of commercial and business development, Adebola Agunbiade, said V-Pass reflected the authority’s commitment to technology adoption. 

“The introduction of V-Pass underscores our commitment to leveraging technology,” Ms Agunbiade said. 

She said the system would improve passenger facilitation and strengthen aviation security across Nigeria’s domestic airports. 

Ms Agunbiade explained that travellers would receive secure digital identities through a one-time enrolment process. 

She said Nigerian passengers would register using their National Identification Number (NIN) and facial biometric capture. 

Foreign travellers, she added, would enrol using passports through optical character recognition and biometric authentication. 

Passengers would undergo biometric verification before accessing restricted airport areas and again before boarding flights. 

Ms Agunbiade said the dual-verification process would eliminate impersonation and prevent unauthorised access. 

She added that the system would curb identity fraud and enhance confidence in passenger authentication among security agencies. 

“Passengers will have the option of using self-service kiosks or receiving assistance from FAAN personnel,” she said. 

Ms Agunbiade said electronic gates would also be introduced to automate access to controlled areas.

She explained that e-gates would reduce queues and improve passenger movement within airport terminals.

Beyond passenger processing, V-Pass would provide airlines with secure access to flight schedules and passenger information.

Ms Agunbiade said airlines would also access passenger manifests and boarding statistics through the digital platform. 

She disclosed that FAAN would operate a central management system to monitor passenger movement. 

The system would generate operational analytics and support future integration with other airport technologies.

FAAN and Verxid Technologies assured passengers that data privacy remained a major priority under the project. 

They said the system complies with the requirements of the Nigeria Data Protection Regulation (NDPR). 

The organisations stressed that passengers’ biometric data would not be stored on kiosks or handheld devices. 

Ahead of deployment, FAAN and Verxid plan extensive public awareness campaigns across various communication platforms. 

The campaigns will cover television, radio, social media, airport announcements and airline communication channels. 

FAAN said V-Pass was part of its digital transformation agenda to ensure safer airport operations. 

The authority aims to build a smarter, safer and more efficient ecosystem for domestic travellers. 

FAAN disclosed that a live ‘Proof of Concept’ demonstration and technical assessment would precede full deployment. 

Developers said biometric verification would take less than 30 seconds after passenger enrolment. 

They added that first-time registration would take approximately one minute. 

(NAN)