By Alpha Abu<\/p>\n
Copies of an upgraded version of Sierra Leone\u2019s passport have been presented to President Julius Maada Bio and Vice President Dr.Mohamed Juldeh Jalloh. According to State House Communications Unit, Chief Immigration Officer , Andrew Jaiah Kaikai presented the passports to the first two gentlemen of the republic in Freetown.<\/p>\n
The new passport is said to have special security features which makes it difficult to be forged or duplicated.<\/p>\n
Minister of Internal Affairs, David Panda-Noah, who was present at the event, said the initiative was a part of President Bio\u2019s directives to transform the immigration system, and that they had engaged the contractor for the new passport to meet \u2018\u2019all ICAO and other international standards\u2019\u2019. He said \u2018\u2019the chip embedded in the passport makes it electronically readable and could be used at any E-gate\u2019\u2019.<\/p>\n
In another development, State House also reported the conferring of citizenship status, on 109 (one hundred and nine) Africans from the Diaspora. President Julius Maada Bio congratulated them as they subscribed to the oath of allegiance. He described the event as one that had been the climax of a historic journey after months and years of searching for their ancestral roots.<\/p>\n
President Bio said: \u2018\u2019the history of slavery has always been etched on our minds because our brothers and sisters were captured and sold from the early 16th century to the late 18th century\u2019\u2019<\/p>\n
Read further: https:\/\/politicosl.com\/articles\/sierra-leone-launches-new-passport-naturalizes-109-citizens<\/a><\/p>\n