By Oluwatosin Maliki
In a recent development, the Federal Government has announced that Nigerian citizens with expired passports planning to return home to celebrate the yuletide will be allowed to enter the country without any obstruction.
This was disclosed in a letter dated 22nd December 2023, issued by the Comptroller General of the Nigeria Immigration Service, NIS, Wura-Ola Adepoju, to the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Yusuf Tuggar, through the Office of Assistant Comptroller General, Border Management.
The NIS demanded that Nigerians “be admitted into the country with their expired Nigerian passports.”
The statement read, “l am directed to refer to the above subject matter and to inform you that the Federal Government of Nigeria in its efforts to make life easy for Nigerians in the diaspora, has approved that all Nigerians returning home can be admitted into the country with their expired Nigerian passports.”
“I am further directed to inform airlines coming to Nigeria to allow holders of Nigerian expired passports to board without let,” the statement added.
Although, the reciept of the letter is yet to be confirmed by the media aide to the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Alkasim Abdulkadir, he noted that he was not in the office.
Also, the NIS spokesperson, Dotun Aridegbe, who was reportedly contacted to confirm the letter’s authenticity, could not be reached.
However, it was learned that a reliable source at the NIS who pleaded anonymity, confirmed that the policy was not new as the Federal Government did the same last year.