The Federal Government of Nigeria has declared an end to the era of long waiting times for passport issuance, promising a swift and efficient turnaround time for passport applications.
The announcement came Wednesday, October 4, 2023, as the Minister of Interior, Dr. Olubunmi Tunji-Ojo, addressed the nation from the capital city, Abuja. Dr. Tunji-Ojo shared critical updates on his directive to the Nigeria Immigration Service (NIS) to clear a staggering backlog of over 204,000 passport applications.
The Minister stated emphatically that the era of waiting for months to get passports is over.
The Federal Government’s directive is clear: passport applicants can now expect their applications to be processed within a two-week timeframe, marking a significant reduction in processing times.
This move aims to alleviate the frustrations of countless Nigerians who have faced lengthy waiting periods and administrative challenges when applying for passports. The two-week processing timeline is set to enhance efficiency, reduce corruption, and streamline the application process for Nigerian citizens.
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In his remark, the Minister said,
“On September 7, we made a promise to sort out the backlogs in two weeks, but we made it in three weeks, and I sincerely want to apologise to Nigerians for that.
“For us, we are assured that if it can work in the NIS, it can work anywhere else. Nigeria is undergoing a process.
“We inherited 204,332 enrolments without passports being issued, people that had applied and captured. That was the figure, and we gave a marching order because the President was also on our necks to bring solutions and succour to Nigerians.
“We went into strategic meetings with the NIS and with the support of our service providers, we were able to increase printing machines to four in passport offices where we had two. Our service providers gave us the machines at no cost.
“The NIS personnel were doing three shifts, working 24/7 to make sure that we clear the backlogs and to ensure that never again are we going to have backlogs of passport production.
“We want to ensure that nobody waits for more than two weeks to get their passports.
“As of October 1, we had cleared all the 204,332 backlogs, and from the records produced by the NIS, the number of passports already collected is 91,981. Outstanding but available is 112,351.”
Additionally, he conveyed President Bola Tinubu’s unwavering dedication to keeping the passport application fees stable, even in the face of foreign exchange fluctuations.
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The minister further explained that he had meticulously reviewed all contracts and agreements between the ministry and its service providers. He disclosed that in the upcoming months, passport applicants would have the convenience of uploading their passport photos through the immigration portal, eliminating the need to visit physical passport offices for this purpose.
He clarified that applicants would only need to make a trip to passport offices for the biometric enrollment process.
“Hopefully, by December, people will not need to go to passport offices when they are snapping or taking pictures. This is 2023. People will be able to upload their passport photographs online with specifications.
“When you apply for a visa, you do that, and we are advancing in that line. Also, your supporting documents should be uploaded online so that when you go to the passport office, it will just be for biometrics and within five minutes you have left there.”
The minister has also set a deadline of January 1 for private-sector partners of the Nigeria Immigration Service to activate passport offices abroad that are currently pending. Tunji-Ojo pointed out that the backlog of passports in various countries, including the United Kingdom, was partially due to contractors not implementing these passport offices.
“What we’re looking at, for example, in Canada: for a start, we should have about three, four offices. We might not, at this particular point in time, be able to say, ‘We want to spend money to open all these things’ but we can partner with the private sector,” he said.
“Incidentally, that service – the passport front office – is actually in the contract signed by the NIS with some service providers over a time ago but up till now, not yet activated. And I have told them, ‘By January 1, God bless you, if you do not activate these services.’”
He stated that the contractors’ inability to activate the passport offices signifies their incapacity to fulfill their contractual obligations.
“And you will not hold millions of Nigerians in the diaspora to ransom by not being able to provide them the service you ought to provide,” the minister added.
