Acting CG, NIS explains how international passport application backlog will be cleared in three months
The International Passport scarcity rocking Nigeria will end by March, 2022, acting Comptroller General, Nigeria Immigration Service (NIS), Isa Idris, has vowed.
Platforms Africa reports that Idris who said this at a virtual press conference today, January 1, 2022, stated that the immigration has received 45,000 booklet yesterday, December 31, which will help in clearing the backlog of applications within and outside the country for international passports.
Speaking on three key areas of focus for the NIS, the acting CG maintained that the immigration service is a border policing agency and the number one on its agenda is the border management.
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“This (border management) is followed by passport reforms and the staff welfare,* he said.
Stating that the scarcity of International passport was worsened by COVID-19 and foreign exchange (forex), Idris said; “COVID-19 did not help matters as it led to the closure of borders across the World and affected a lot of government’s functions including the passport managment. This also caused a surge in the number of applicants for passport.
“We have commenced work on this and based on the instruction given to us by the minister, the passport issue shall be a thing of the past by March.
“We are already on the move to ensure that this March target is met for applicants in Nigeria and the abroad.
“By mid-January, we are moving to New York. We will look at the backlog and we will share accordingly.
“So, we have a timeline of March 2022, the Minister has set that target for us. By March, passport scarcity will be a thing of the past.”
To stop a repeat of having the backlog, Idris said; “We have highlighted three weeks for renewal and six weeks for new passport. And, if you look at it properly, you will see there is no where in the World where you get passport in a day. There are cases of emergency and we accommodate this as well in our scheme of things.”
Fielding questions from Platforms Africa on challenges ahead of the agency in the actualisation of the set target, the acting CG said; “the number one of the challenges is lack of fund. The government is really trying and based on the budget we will need fund.”
He charged Nigerians to make use of the six month-window to renew their passports before expiration.
This, he said, would tremendously help the applicants and the NIS in terms of logistics to get passports ready for them before such vital documents expire.
