FG guarantees passport delivery in one week after application
The Federal Government has pledged that Nigerians will now receive their passports within one week of enrolment due to comprehensive reforms in the issuance process.
Minister of Interior, Olubunmi Tunji-Ojo, made this promise on Thursday in Abuja during the ministry’s mid-tenure performance retreat.
“Our target is very clear: within one week of enrolment, every Nigerian should have their passport in hand. Not just delivering quickly, but delivering quality passports that reflect our integrity as a nation,” he stated.
The minister explained that the new system aims to eliminate the long waits and extortion that often forced citizens to endure six to seven months for their passports or to pay as much as ₦200,000 for faster processing.
“The system we inherited had a six-month backlog, which we cleared in two and a half weeks. This inefficient process caused significant hardship for Nigerians seeking passports,” Tunji-Ojo noted.
He shared a personal experience, stating, “My own daughter had that bad experience. Even when I was chairman of the House Committee on the NDDC, it was a struggle to get a passport for my daughter. I had to pay hundreds of thousands just to expedite her application. That era is over.”
Tunji-Ojo also introduced the centralized personalization center, the largest in Africa, which is designed to enhance processing speed and security.
“With this facility, we can print five times more passports than we currently need. Once you enrol, it doesn’t take us more than 24 hours to vet. Printing capacity is no longer our problem,” he explained.
In addition, he announced that passport control officers would no longer have the authority to approve or delay applications, in response to recent revelations of corruption and inefficiency within the process.
“Some PCOs had so much power that they could hold up passport approvals until they were settled. That abuse of power ends now,” Tunji-Ojo emphasized.
He stressed that centralizing the approval process would remove individual officers’ influence over applicants, ensuring a fairer system.
“We realized that minimizing human contact is crucial to cutting corruption. Passport approval will no longer rest with PCOs. My duty is to provide efficiency and make Nigerians happy,” he stated.
He further emphasized the necessity of passport integrity, assuring that “anyone carrying it must be a Nigerian. If you are not a Nigerian, you cannot carry it. This is vital for our national integrity.”
Tunji-Ojo referenced past incidents where foreigners obtained Nigerian passports illegally, emphasizing that new vetting and approval processes would help restore the system’s integrity.
“In one incident, a Ugandan woman with a Nigerian passport was arrested at Lagos airport after paying $1,000 to procure it. That cannot continue. Our passport must remain a true symbol of Nigerian identity,” he concluded.
Source: Channels TV
