The Nigeria Immigration Service’s (NIS) efforts to sanitize the process and bring integrity to passport applications, according to Interior Minister Rauf Aregbesola, are being undermined by a small number of unscrupulous officials.
Aregbesola announced this in Oyo Town on Tuesday night while opening the NIS passport front office.
The minister stated that the NIS did not have a shortage of passport booklets at any time, calling it “a lie and an excuse by a few corrupt officials of the service to extort the applicants.”
“One of the challenges facing NIS as regards passports application are the few corrupt officials of the service who are undermining the efforts of the service at sanitising process and bringing integrity to passports application.
“These unscrupulous people are making the situation difficult by the day, if people did not tolerate them, they would not exist again.
“They are the one spreading the rumour that there are no booklets in order to continue to extort the applicants.
“We did not have a shortage of booklets at any given time; we have enough booklets to meet the need of the people.
“There are more than enough booklets in our production schedule,” Aregbesola said.
He, however, urged Nigerians to stop patronizing touts and to report any NIS officials who manipulate applicants for money.
The minister stated that NIS has been improving its services, noting that only a few countries could boast of the type of Nigeria passport, which he described as “one of the best in the world.”
He stated that one of the current challenges facing the immigration service is a lack of offices to enroll applicants for data capture.
The minister stated that the challenges were being addressed gradually, particularly with the construction of more passport checkpoints.
Aregbesola stated that the opening of a new office in Oyo Town would relieve congestion in Ibadan’s downtown.
He stated that approximately 5,000 applicants awaiting data capture in the Ibadan center would be transferred to the new Oyo center, reducing the challenge of applicant data capture waiting periods.
There is a limit to the number of applicants that any passport office can see in a day, making it impossible to see all of the applicants who have been waiting for so long.
“Ibadan can only attend to 450 applicants in a day and that is why we need several locations like this one in Oyo,” he said.
The minister stated that obtaining an international passport was the right of all Nigerians, both inside and outside the country, and assured them that the service would not relent in its mandate of providing passports to all Nigerians.
Earlier, Mohammed Umar, the NIS Comptroller in Oyo State, stated that the new passport office would be an addition to the Ibadan Centre, which had been serving the people of the state and its environs for decades.
Umar stated that the Ibadan Centre had become overburdened due to the large number of passport applicants.
According to him, this made NIS to consider establishing another centre in Oyo in order to effectively serve the people.
He commended the minister for bringing the centre closer to the people and appreciated the people of the town for their contributions in ensuring the realisation of the centre.
Also speaking, the Chairman, Oyo Metropolitan Development Association, Archbishop Ayo Ladigbolu, thanked the minister and the Federal Government for the project.
Ladigbolu assured the government of the support and cooperation of the people of the town to officials of NIS.
He said that the centre would reduce the stress being experienced by people in obtaining passports and boost the economy of the town.