BTO’s Passport Order

THE news that the Minister of Interior, Bunmi Tunji-Ojo, ordered the Nigeria Immigration Service to clear the backlog of about 200,000 pending passport applications is refreshing. It is also cheering to see that the agency swiftly swung into action and cleared 60,000 applications in four days. Data released by the Minister’s media team showed that 165,829 pending passport applications had been cleared as of September 21, 2023.

THE Minister also directed the Immigration Service to immediately disengage itself from any partnership hampering the speedy issuance of Passports to Nigerians. Some plans pertaining to the Immigration Service, reeled out by the Minister, include the removal of bottlenecks in the acquisition of passports and other immigration documents, decentralisation of passport application centres, domestication of passport production, working towards reducing passport processing waiting periods to two weeks, integration of feedback mechanisms within systems, reducing human interference and downsizing on service providers where necessary.

BEFORE this time, the Immigration Service saddled with the production of Nigerian passports, had become a source of milking applicants over the years. The official price for the 32-page and 64-page passports with five year validity cost N25,000 and N35,000, respectively but Nigerians pay as high as N50,000 and N100,000. Those who need the passports within a short time may pay more to oil the process.

IMMIGRATION officers have become contractors, without which international passports cannot be procured as and when due. They created artificial scarcity to extort Nigerians needing passports. Walking into an immigration office to procure an international passport without going through any agency officer is like fetching water into a bucket with a spoon. This pestiferous operation is also experienced by Nigerians while applying for driver’s licence, voter’s card, National Identification Number, and other national documents.

THERE were efforts in the past to make the Immigration Service efficient. Despite initial energy, the unwanted status quo remained afterwards. For instance, the Federal Government had in 2019, through the Nigerian Security Printing and Minting Company — responsible for printing Nigeria’s currency and other important security documents, signed MoU with IRIS Smart Technologies Limited to domesticate the production of international passports (e-passports). The then Minister of Interior (2015-2019), Lt Gen (rtd) Abdulrahman Dambazau, set up a committee would ensure that the project is implemented and passports delivered to applicants in 48 hours.

ALSO, the immediate past Minister of Interior, Rauf Aregbesola, introduced “Passport Express Centres” before President Muhammadu Buhari abruptly cancelled it as a result of complaints by Nigerians. Aregbesola also announced in 2021, that Immigration Service officers would start wearing body cameras to detect and report any form of solicitations, inflation, improper communications, extortion, diversion, hoarding, and other corrupt practices so as to get rid of touts in the system. He added that an ombudsman would also be created for members of the public to receive complaints and reports on officers trying to deviate from prescribed guidelines and subversion of the process, passport collection would not be delayed, technology would be deployed and applicants would have no reason to go through any officer before getting passports. Even though there were noticeable improvements in the services, extortion and unnecessary delay in passport procurement persisted.

NO doubt, Bunmi Tunji-Ojo has a track record of being a goal-getter based on his antecedents. We implore the Minister to ensure the reform of the Service does not end like those in the past. All the obstacles that make passports challenging to procure such as booklet scarcity, faulty capturing machine, inadequate facilities, and difficulty in accessing forex from the Central Bank of Nigeria should be removed. Forex will not be needed if the passports are produced within the country. Aside from creating avenues for undue scarcity and extortion of applicants, producing Nigerian passports abroad by a Malaysian company named Iris Smart Technologies Limited is a shame for the giant of Africa. The Minister should ensure the plan to domesticate passport production is actualised.

FEELERS from the Service showed that many of its technical operations are contracted to private companies, long long-term contracts are signed with private companies on behalf of the government but for personal greed and some heads of the agency and the Ministry of Interior might have shares in the companies. The Service is in contract with. We implore the Minister not to spare the rod and make scapegoats of officers and officials caught manipulating the Service for personal benefits.

THE world is digitalised and data drive service delivery. With a reliable database, removing bottlenecks and manipulation of processes from the NIS operations will be easier. We implore the Minister to work on facilitating a proper database for Nigeria and Nigerians. This will ease data verification of passport applicants. Interestingly, the Management Commission (NIMC) is now under the Ministry of Interior.

THE promise by Aregbesola in 2021 that passports would be issued in each of the 774 local government areas in the country to reduce the problem of getting them should be revisited. Just like voters’ cards were brought to the Local Government Areas and Wards before the 2023 general elections, passports should be collected at any of the 774 local government areas in the country.

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