The Federal Government on Wednesday announced a two-week timeline for the issuance of passports, saying the era when Nigerians waited for months to get their passports was over.
Minister of Interior, Dr Olubunmi Tunji-Ojo, announced the timeline in Abuja while briefing newsmen on his earlier directive to the Nigeria Immigration Service (NIS) to clear more than 204,000 backlogs of passport applications.
The minister apologised to Nigerians that clearance of the backlog had spilled into three weeks, as opposed to the earlier two weeks deadline he gave.
Tunji-Ojo lauded officers and men of the NIS for efforts made so far and charged them to work round-the-clock and on public holidays and weekends to achieve his directive.
He said while the procurement of visas was a privilege, acquisition of a passport was the right of every Nigerian.
He also expressed the commitment of President Bola Tinubu not to increase the cost of passport issuance in spite of foreign exchange volatility.
“On Sept. 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.
“The `Renewed Hope’ administration of President Bola Tinubu is one that matches its words with actions.
“The issue of passport must be a right and not a privilege. Visa is a privilege but passport is a right,’’ the minister said.
Tunji-Ojo stressed that with that new development, the Federal Government had been able to hand over the rights of Nigerians to them.
“For us, we are sure that if it can work at the NIS, it can work anywhere else. Nigeria is undergoing a process.
“We inherited 204,332 enrolments without passport issuance.
“We gave a marching order because the president is also on our necks to bring solutions and succour to Nigerians,’’ he said.
He explained that after strategic meetings with NIS officials and with service providers, the service was able to increase printing machines in passport offices from two to four at no cost.
“The NIS personnel were running three shifts, working round-the-clock to ensure that the backlogs were cleared and to ensure that never again would the issue of backlogs resurface.
“We want to ensure that nobody waits for more than two weeks to get his or her passport.
“As of Oct. 1, we had cleared all the 204,332 backlogs and from records produced by the NIS, passports already collected were 91,981. Outstanding, but available are 112,351 passports,’’ Tunji-Ojo said.
The minister pleaded with Nigerians to endeavour to collect their passports, adding that Nigerians should not give money to a third party to process passport applications, no matter the circumstance.