The federal Government has given two weeks to the Nigeria Immigration Service NIS to clear over 200,000 pending applications for international passport. This order was given on Thursday during a meeting with top Government Officials by the Minister of Interior, Hon. Olubunmi Tunji-Ojo to the acting Comptroller General, Adepoju Carol and the managing director of Iris Smart Technologies, a third party company in charge of the production of passport booklets.

Special Assistant on Media to the minister Babatunde Alao disclosed this in a statement on Thursday said the order comes in furtherance of his promise to remove ”bottlenecks in the acquisition of passport and other immigration documents”

Delays in the processing and enrolment of passports in Nigeria has been a source of frustration for citizens, causing significant delays in obtaining crucial travel documents. He said having to deal with about 200,000 backlogs calls for national emergency. He said ” as far as i am concerned, the issue of passport is a national Emergency. I keep getting emails daily from Nigerians complaining. we cannot continue like that. It has become an embarrassment to his Excellency, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu. I represent him here as your minister. That embarrassment is mine now. i am not changing my words. i need the backlog cleared in two weeks”

The Acting Comptroller General Carol Adepoju and managing Director Yinka Fisher assured the minister that all neccessary resources and measures would be deployed to ensure the expedited processing of these pending passport applications. She disclosed that though the number of enrolment as of Thursday morning was over 200,000 across the country, the service has been able to secure enough booklets to clear the backlog.

Charging both the IRIS team and officers of NIS, The minister revealed that he receives updates on Passport enrolments on a daily basis on his phone. That is the best way to know and Nigerians deserve the best and have the right to own a passport if they can afford it. he said that the delay in the process of obtaining passport must end.

SOURCE: VANGUARD