Biometric Tech Will Curb In-House Fraud, Insecurity, Says Runsewe

DUE to rise in insecurity and fraud in Nigeria, the Director General of the Nigerian Tourism Development Corporation, (NDTC), Otunba Olusegun Runsewe has reiterated the need for hotels in Nigeria to have their staff identity captured in a database via biometric system of identification.

According to him, the Biometric option is important because it will assist the corporation and genuine practitioners in checking criminality and other vices perpetrated within the hospitality industry.

He made the statement while introducing a consortium of three IT professional outfits, led by Mr. Chibuzo Ike to the president of the Hotel Employers and Personal Services Association of Nigeria (HOPSEA), Chief Samuel Alabi who also led a delegation of seasoned Hoteliers to the tourism village, Abuja on Wednesday

Runsewe sought collaboration with major players like HOPSEA and renowned before the measure goes into full swing. He pointed out that the venture was the first of its kind in Africa and has been configured to ensure total security, maintaining that database remains a necessity for a safe and viable hospitality industry.

While appraising the modus operandi of the technology, the leader of the consortium, Mr. Chibuzor Ike, said staff of hotels will be captured in a smart identification card, which will be used to issue what he called a unique ID card.

He also assured that the entire process has been made seamless with several security features put in place to ensure maximum security while protecting the privacy of workers in order to avoid crimes and other vices that may emanate from e-registration.

Alabi lauded the efforts of the technical team, while pointing out some relevant issues affecting the initiative like the category of hotel staff to be captured, updating staff profile to be captured, updating of staff profile and how the Direct Data Capture machines are to be deployed.

The registration is Internet based and according to Runsewe, an administrator to be nominated by the hotel would conduct the entire process.