Niger has become the latest member of the Alliance of Sahel States (AES) to launch a regional biometric passport, completing the trio’s breakaway from ECOWAS travel documents and consolidating their push for digital sovereignty. The country’s head of state, Abdourahamane Tiani, completed a biometric enrollment at the presidential palace last Thursday, becoming the first citizen of the West African nation to receive the travel document, according to a presidency announcement.
With the move, Niger now joins Burkina Faso and Mali, which had already launched their own biometric passports after leaders of the three nations agreed to introduce common regional national identity and biometric passport systems. The development comes after the three countries officially withdrew from the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) in January 2025, following sanctions imposed by the regional bloc after military coups. The trio subsequently decided to end the use of the ECOWAS passport and the regional biometric ID (ENBIC), going ahead to introduce their own credentials to be used and accepted among themselves.
The Nigerien government has said the new passport launch is part of efforts to offer Nigeriens a biometric travel document 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: 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 what they describe as the negative side of digital diplomacy. The development also mirrors similar moves in other regions of the world, such as the Caribbean, where countries are using digital public infrastructure as a tool to facilitate mobility, regional integration, drive tourism, cross-border trade, and even regional security.
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