A Nigerian globetrotter who has clocked over 1,000 border crossings on his passport is urging the Federal Government to go fully digital, after witnessing Europe’s quiet death of the ink stamp firsthand.
Ogundana Mcdolly, widely known as The9jaboy, returned from a trip through Paris’ Charles de Gaulle Airport with a startling revelation: his Nigerian passport, once a canvas of visa conquests, was left untouched by any immigration officer. Instead, his entry into the Schengen zone on May 23, 2026, was recorded electronically, a sign that the era of paper-based border control is fading fast.
In a statement released in Ibadan, Mcdolly described the moment he realized his passport would bear no new mark. “I arrived expecting the usual Schengen entry stamp, only to find that my movement had been logged digitally,” he said. “This signals the gradual end of an era in global travel documentation, especially across Europe and North America, where paperless immigration systems are becoming the norm.”
For holders of the Nigerian passport, Mcdolly noted, each stamp is more than a souvenir. “As the most travelled Nigerian using a Nigerian passport, with over 1,000 visa entry and exit stamps across my passports, each stamp represented a hurdle crossed and a story captured,” he said. “Many tourists see them as mere mementos, but for us, they are proof of overcoming strict visa requirements and immigration hurdles.”
The shift to digital, however, could be a lifesaver for frequent Nigerian travelers who often renew passports not because they expire, but because pages run out. Mcdolly described the renewal process as stressful and time-consuming, with high-frequency travelers sometimes exhausting their booklets within months due to repeated visa stickers and ink stamps.
“The adoption of electronic travel records by Western countries would help preserve passport pages and allow travelers to maximize the full lifespan of their passports,” he said. “The booklet transforms from a rapidly depleting consumable into a durable identity card, a token to be scanned rather than a ledger to be filled.”
But Mcdolly also lamented the cultural loss. Physical immigration stamps, he argued, are symbols of resilience, movement, and personal history for many travelers from developing countries. While Europe and North America race toward digital borders, much of Africa, Asia, and parts of South America still rely on traditional ink stamping, creating a divide between regions that are paperless and those that are not.
Despite the nostalgia, Mcdolly acknowledged the advantages of digital border management: improved efficiency, enhanced security, and reduced human error. He urged Nigerian immigration authorities and the Federal Government to study global trends and modernize the country’s border and passport management systems to meet international standards.
“Although digital travel systems may erase the physical memories attached to passport stamps, they offer long-term convenience and operational relief for travelers navigating increasingly technology-driven systems,” he added.
