Niger joins regional biometric passport initiative with Burkina Faso, Mali

Niger has become the latest member of the Alliance of Sahel States (AES) to launch a regional biometric passport as the region’s digital sovereignty push gets stronger.

The country’s head of state, Abdourahamane Tiani, completed a biometric enrollment at the presidential place last Thursday, becoming the first citizen of the West African nation to get the travel document, according to a presidency announcement.

With the move, the country now joins Burkina Faso and Mali which had already launched theirs, after leaders of the three nations agreed to introduce common regional national identity and biometric passport systems.

The trio is struggling to build its digital sovereignty in many ways within the AES and identity systems are one of them. It would be recalled that three nations severed ties with the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) after they were sanctioned by the regional bloc following military coups.

After officially withdrawing from the bloc in January 2025, the three countries also decided to put an end to the use of the ECOWAS passport and the regional biometric ID (ENBIC), and went ahead to introduce their own credentials to be used and accepted among them. Burkina Faso launched its new biometric ID system last November.

The Niger government has said its new passport launch is part of efforts to offer Nigeriens a biometric travel document that is designed with the highest standards of security as agreed by AES heads of state in Bamako in 2024.

There are now five categories of passports, the government announced. They are the ordinary, service, diplomatic, refugee and hajj passports. The hajj passport is for citizens traveling to Saudi Arabia for the annual Muslim pilgrimage.

Niger is unveiling its new biometric passport just months after launching a new generation national identity card which President Tiani was also the first citizen to enrol for.

Libyan firm Al Itissan Al-Jadeed was selected last year to undertake the identity infrastructure upgrade.

According to the AES countries, the launch of common ID and passport projects is in line with their agenda of making their region not only economically and socially integrated, but also sovereign and free from the negative side of digital diplomacy.

The development also falls in line with what is happening is other regions of the world such as the Caribbean where countries are using digital public infrastructure as a tool not only to facilitate mobility and regional integration, but also to drive tourism, cross-border trade, and even regional security.

Article Topics

Al Itissan Al-Jadeed  |  biometric passport  |  biometrics  |  digital sovereignty  |  national ID  |  Niger  |  Sahel