BioLink announces the commencement of the commissioning stage of the biometric identification system, which is a major component of the e-passport project in Nigeria, the first African country to adopt e-documents enhanced with biometrics in compliance with the international standards and ICAO guidelines. As of today, e-passports are accepted and deployed globally by a number of countries as an effective tool to protect individuals and their personal information against fraud and counterfeit.

The new passports to be issued for Nigerians contain a digital face photo as well as thumb and forefinger fingerprint templates. Fingerprint identification is based on BioLink’s scalable and fault-tolerant solutions and algorithms, which are among leaders in independent tests. In implementing this project, BioLink co-operated with its strategic partners Iris Smart Technologies Ltd (ISTL), Nigeria, and IRIS Corporation Berhad, Malaysia. As a system integrator, ISTL is responsible for integrating technologies provided by various vendors, rendering the required services, including system maintenance on-site. IRIS is the supplier of the passport disposal system software, electronic inlays for e-passports and is responsible for printing the new passports.

To issue a biometrically enhanced e-passport, the person’s fingerprints are scanned, enrolled into the system and chip contained in a passport. Identification is performed both at the issuance stage in order to prevent re-issuance of the document to the same person and when crossing the country’s borders to facilitate and enhance immigration control procedures.

The biometric component is based on BioLink Automated Multi-biometric Information System (AMIS), being a gigantic and powerful matcher of biometric templates and based on patented award-winning fingerprint matching algorithms. Fingerprint scanning provide support for WSQ (Wavelet Scalar Quantization) format widely accepted and welcomed by law enforcement authorities worldwide. The server part composed of 180 clustered blade servers allows for performing hundreds of thousands of matches per second, with such a speed being a must for the like large-scale identification projects covering millions of people. As of today, the system is supposed to cover the issuance of passports to 6 millions Nigerian citizens (1st stage). Assuming the entire AMIS potential is used to issue passports to all Nigerians, the whole process of passport issuance is about to take 281 days only.

Piotr Pertsov, Director of Business Development in BioLink, says: “Engagement in such a large, nationwide project is another vital milestone in BioLink’s large-scale identification activities. Some years ago, our cutting-edge biometrics and matchers did their best to provide Nigerians with a unique opportunity to vote in compliance with the democratic “one man – one vote” procedures by enrolling 60 million citizens within the framework of the Voter Registration System. Now, we are committed to help them combat illegal immigration and terrorism in compliance with global incentives and procedures. Our work is not done yet: now that the project is commissioned, BioLink will provide the required technical support and assistance, both on-site and remote, for the system to operate properly”.