The Nigeria Immigration Service (NIS) has been given two weeks by Minister of the Interior Olubunmi Tunji-Ojo to process all passport applications that have been backlogged.
On Thursday, September 7 in Abuja, Ojo issued the order following a meeting with Caroline Adepoju, the Acting Comptroller-General of Immigration. Iris Smart Technologies, the company responsible for printing Nigerian passport booklets, was represented at the meeting by its managing director, Yinka Fisher.
After promising to eliminate all obstacles to obtaining a Nigerian passport and other immigration documents, the Minister said he had made up his mind to issue the directive.
What he said was;
Citizens of Nigeria have complained about how long it takes to get their passports processed and registered, delaying their ability to leave the country when necessary.
Nearly two hundred thousand pending cases constitute a national emergency. My inbox is flooded with complaints from Nigerians every day about the passport issue, so I consider it a national emergency.
We simply can’t keep going on like this. It’s caused President Bola Tinubu a lot of shame. I am here as his ministerial representative.
That shame is now all mine. I will not retract my statements. In two weeks, I need to have everything caught up. NIS sends me enrollment updates every day via text message on my phone. This is the most reliable way for me to stay informed.
“Nigerians should have it all. If they are able to do so, they should have the option to purchase a passport. By the end of November, we will have paid off all of our debts.
“I’m still of the opinion that the passport application process can’t be held up any longer.”
Adepoju and Fisher reassured the minister that they would use all available means to quickly process the backlog of passport applications.
Adepoju, who reported that the total number of registrations had reached 200,000 as of Thursday morning, said that the NIS had acquired enough booklets to eliminate the waiting period.
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