Are you a Travel Agent in Nigeria? Do you work for a Travel Agency in Nigeria? Then you must have the Nigeria Travel Practitioners Identity Card (NTPIC).
That is the message NANTA is spreading as the launch of the much-awaited NTPIC is nearing. On 26 June, the NTPIC will be launched at an official event in Lagos.
The ID card is expected to thoroughly sanitise the Nigerian travel industry, which is currently struggling with a great number of fraudulent operators. According to NANTA’s website, more than 40% of Nigerian travellers have already fallen victim to unregistered and fraudulent travel agents.
Inside Travel decided to chat to NANTA CEO Bernard Bankole to get some more information about the ID card. Read the interview below or listen to the voice recording.
“I would like travel agents in Nigeria to understand that it’s not going to be business as usual,” Bankole told Inside Travel.
“The travel industry in Nigeria has been porous, and it has always been an all-commerce business for everybody. With the proper guidelines we are bringing now, it means that every travel agency will need to be registered. We will have a robust database which can be relied upon and from which empirical data can be derived either by the government or by other travel industry players,” he explained.
How can travel agents in Nigeria obtain the NTPIC?
Every travel agent working in a travel agency will need to have the ID Card.
The ID Card is tied to the Bank Verification Number (BVN), which is a unique number that everyone with a bank account in Nigeria has. It has also got a biometric verification, which has been done with the bank already.
Once NANTA has received your BVN, and the travel agency has confirmed that you are either the owner or a consultant at the agency, then you are able to obtain the ID Card and show that you are a bona fide travel agent.
Has the registration process started yet?
The registration has started. So far, we have registered about 900 agents. Knowing that Nigerian people tend to leave things to the last minute, we expect a rush of applications closer to the launch of the ID card.
All the information for the registration as well as the process, can be found on www.NANTA.org.ng.
Is there a cost associated with the NTCIP?
Each ID card costs NGN3500.
Does NANTA perform background checks on travel agents?
Yes, NANTA performs background checks on each of its member travel agencies. The way NANTA is structured is: we have five zones within the country. In these five political zones, we have offices and officials that do physical checks to verify the offices of travel agencies. This way, we know who they are, and that helps us to know that they are valid and trustworthy. This is coupled with documents travel agencies need to submit to NANTA, which are the standard required documents for registering as a travel agent.
