Border control at Nigeria airports: what happens to travellers and their data

Arriving: the steps at the border

Since 1 May 2025, paper arrival and departure cards have been replaced by an online platform at lecard.immigration.gov.ng. All inbound non-Nigerian passengers must complete the landing card before boarding. Departing passengers complete an exit card before departure ¹.

On arrival, travellers go to a Nigeria Immigration Service (NIS) officer or, for Nigerians with valid passports, an e-gate ³. Under the Civil Aviation Order on API and PNR, airline data is made available at the primary line of the airport of entry ⁵.

Entry permission: e-Visa, fees and overstays

The Federal Ministry of Interior and the NIS launched the e-Visa on 1 May 2025. Applicants apply at evisa.immigration.gov.ng for one of 13 short-visit visa types. Approval is expected within 48 hours, and the visa and a QR code are sent by email. e-Visas cannot be extended ¹.

Visa on arrival ended on 1 May 2025. Visas on arrival issued before that date stayed valid until 30 May 2025 ¹. In June 2025 the Interior Minister said more than 14,000 e-Visa applications were processed in the first six weeks ².

Overstay penalties took effect on 1 September 2025. An overstay costs USD 15 a day. An overstay of more than three months brings a five-year entry ban, and one of a year or more brings a permanent ban. The exit card links to the visa system and applies penalties, including visa bans, automatically ¹.

Biometrics and e-gates

In April 2024 Interior Minister Olubunmi Tunji-Ojo announced 33 passport e-gates: 21 at Murtala Muhammed International Airport in Lagos and 4 each at Kano, Port Harcourt and Enugu. Abuja's gates were close to complete. The minister said clearance takes about 24 to 25 seconds for a Nigerian with a valid passport, and that using another person's passport or an expired one would be impossible ³.

Arise News reported that the gates identify people by iris, fingerprint or face scans ⁴. A 2024 NIS presentation to ICAO said e-gates were installed at Abuja and Lagos, with Kano and Port Harcourt in progress ⁵. The sources reviewed did not say whether foreign passport holders may use the gates as of 19 October 2026.

During the Lagos inspection, the minister said the NIS had been using a private company's data centre and that it was not acceptable for this data to sit with a third party. The government built its own data centre ⁴.

Passenger data: API and PNR

Section 42 of the Civil Aviation Act 2022 gives the legal grounds for API. The Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) issued a Civil Aviation Order on API and PNR on 20 June 2024. It took effect on 10 July 2024 ⁵.

The NIS acts as the Passenger Data Single Window and receives API data on behalf of other agencies. A Passenger Information Unit is to be coordinated by the Office of the National Security Adviser. Data must follow the UN, WCO, IATA and ICAO API guidelines, and airlines send it through one entry point ⁵.

The 2024 presentation did not set a retention period. It recommended building a framework for retention and sharing. Air Peace agreed to be the pilot airline, and a data centre at the NIS Command Centre was nearly complete ⁵.

On 1 August 2025 the NIS Comptroller General, Kemi Nandap, said the border management system deployed by her administration uses API and PNR data for target-based profiling of travellers before they arrive ⁶.

Watch lists and checks

The NIS says airlines send passenger data before departure, so the service can screen each traveller before arrival ⁶. The exit card connects to the visa system and records bans for overstays ¹.

Data from more than 30 land control posts feeds the NIS Command and Control Centre in Abuja, which runs border surveillance around the clock ⁶. The sources reviewed did not describe which watch lists the NIS checks at airports.

Your data: the Nigeria Data Protection Act

The Nigeria Data Protection Commission (NDPC) was set up under the Nigeria Data Protection Act 2023. It enforces data protection rules in Nigeria ⁷.

Sections 34 to 38 of the Act give people nine rights: to be informed, to access their data, to correct it, to object to processing, to complain to a supervisory authority, to restrict processing, to move data to another provider, to have data erased, and not to be subject to certain automated decisions ⁷.

The 2024 NIS presentation said data protection rules and sanctions for passenger data sit in civil aviation regulations ⁵. The NDPC home page does not describe exemptions for national security or law enforcement, and this guide did not review the full text of the Act on that point ⁷.

Who runs the systems

The NIS, under the Federal Ministry of Interior, runs the e-Visa, landing and exit cards, e-gates and the passenger data single window ^1,5. The NCAA regulates civil aviation and issued the API and PNR order ^5,8. The Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN) runs airport security operations through its AVSEC unit ^8,9.

In the 2024 presentation, Collins Aerospace presented API, PNR and border management solutions in partnership with the Nigerian government. The presentation agreed to explore them further and did not confirm a contract (status: proposed) ⁵. It listed deployment of goTravel, the UN Office of Counter-Terrorism's passenger data software, in pre-production and production environments ⁵. The sources reviewed did not name suppliers for the e-gates or the e-Visa platform ^1,34.

Security screening on departure

The NCAA has required certification of all aviation security screeners since 1 August 2016, under ICAO Annex 17. Screeners check passengers, cabin and hold baggage, cargo and mail with X-ray equipment. Certificates last 24 months ¹⁰.

In August 2024 FAAN said it would replace single-view scanners with dual-view units at the five main international airports, upgrade X-ray machines to detect explosives and add more liquid explosive detectors ⁹.

From 10 to 13 June 2025 a team from the US Transportation Security Administration carried out a routine assessment visit at Lagos airport with NCAA and FAAN security staff. It covered passenger and baggage screening, access control, cargo and cybersecurity, and checked earlier corrective action plans. No findings were published in the announcement ⁸.