…Alausa, Festac offices in Lagos affected
In a bid to strengthen the passport reform process in Nigeria, the acting Comptroller General, Nigeria Immigration Service (NIS), Mrs Caroline Adepoju has approved the immediate reposting of 15 passport officers.
This is contained in a statement issued by the Acting Public Relations Officer, Assistant Comptroller of Immigration, Kenneth Kure, on Thursday in Abuja.
Adepoju said that the NIS management was determined to upgrade the Passport administration both at home and on foreign missions.
She assured that the service would not go back to its avowed position to make passport offices across the board to be purely Service oriented.
She named some of the affected passport offices as Alausa and Festac both in Lagos, as well as the ones in Edo, Anambra, Bayelsa, Kogi, Nassarawa, Plateau, Enugu, Abia, Kano, Taraba and Ondo, among others.
The acting CG maintained that only the best brains who have fully adopted the mantra of Service above self would henceforth be posted to sensitive places.
“This is so because our people deserve nothing short of the best, ” she said.
It was reported that the posting order was signed by the Deputy Comptroller General (DCG), in charge of Human Resources, Mr Usman Babangida.
Automating Passport
NIS said the agency is automating passport application process, in order to eliminate stress and delay for Nigerians.
The CG of NIS, Adepoju noted that the Service is trying to eliminate human interface in the process of passport application and renewal processes.
He said, “One thing Nigerians know about the Nigeria Immigration Service is the issuance of the Nigerian passport and we know the number of Nigerians that have applied for passports in the past two years have been very high and unprecedented.
“But be that as it may, the service is working hard to ensure that we meet the expectations of Nigerians. Number one, we are automating our passport application process; we are trying to ensure that we cut out human interface.
“Our applications are available online and we are trying to sensitise our applicants that they should go online for these applications to avoid patronising touts.”
The NIS further stated, “The passport is a security document, it will take some time before they are issued. There are a number of processes like carrying out security checks, address verification, among others.”
Adepoju advised Nigerians to always start passport renewal application six months before expiration, adding that fresh applicants don’t need to wait till they need the passport to start application.
She said, “So, I try as much as possible to let people know that if you are renewing your passport, don’t wait until it is completely expired. You can start your application process when you have six months validity on it. Then for fresh applicants, they don’t have to wait until the very last moment when they need the passport.”
Adepoju said that for a fresh application, it takes six weeks to get the passport ready, while it takes three weeks for renewal.
She said the Service is making effort to ensure that applicants don’t need to come to the offices for passport renewal, since their data have already been captured.
Adepoju said, “Presently, considering the crowds in our passport offices, I’m trying to put up a memo to the appropriate quarters that something should be done about renewal as it is done in other climes.
“Once we have your data, we should be able to renew your passport by online application without necessarily going into the passport offices; that will reduce the crowd. So, visiting passport office will be left to only fresh applicants who need their data to be captured.”
