A Strategic Security and Intelligence Specialist, Kabir Adamu, said the US imposed  the visa ban on Nigerians  because it was unable to access the national identity management database which is crucial to the global fight against terrorism. Although Nigeria and the US have shared intelligence over many years, Adamu noted that America was not satisfied with a  lack of unified identity management database in the country where it could get information on any Nigerian of interest, Punch is reporting.

Adamu, who is the Special Advisor Security and Intelligence to the President of the Senate, said, “In Nigeria, we have the problem of identity management. Over time, there have been attempts to have a unified national identity identification database, but that has not been possible. To that extent, the US is correct. Of all the West African countries, Nigeria has the worst identity management data system. Because of the importance of this to the fight against terrorism, any country that does not have that would have a challenge in tackling terrorism.”

Adamu, who is the Abuja Chairman of ASIS International, Abuja Chapter 273, a professional organisation for security professionals, noted that the national database which is being managed by different organisations including the National Identity Management Commission, Nigeria Immigration Service and financial instructions had to be streamlined.

Findings also indicate that part of the database was also being managed by an Indian firm, Continental Transfert Technique. He faulted US claims that Nigeria was not cooperating on information sharing, adding that there was liaison intelligence partnership between the National Intelligence Agency, the Central Intelligence Agency, the Federal Bureau of Intelligence and Nigeria’s Department of State Services and the Nigeria Police Force.