One of the important reforms implemented by African countries in recent years is the introduction of biometric ID documents. The new system can help authenticate holders based on a set of biometric information. 

Benin will officially stop the issuance of non-biometric ID cards. The decision was decreed during the ministerial council held in Cotonou, last July 6. The country, through the National Agency for the Identification of Persons (ANIP), will replace them with biometric cards per the decree n° 2020-396 of July 29, 2020.  

According to a release issued after the ministerial council, the ANIP has taken, since 2020, appropriate measures to efficiently assume its tasks. Thanks to those measures, national ID cards’ processing time is reduced to one week, we learn. 

The satisfying results achieved by the agency prompted the government to “stop the issuance of non-biometric cards, which are no longer compliant with international standards,” the release reads. 

The new identity card is a visa-card-like document with an integrated microchip that stores biometric data like fingerprints, names, surnames, etc. Presented as a tamperproof document, it includes a QR Code (containing an electronic signature) and a holographic code making it hard to falsify the identification information. 

Samira Njoya