Adedapo Adesanya
By Adedapo Adesanya
The federal government through the Nigeria Immigration Service (NIS) has ordered the suspension of processing of new passport applications in all passport offices nationwide till June 1.
The directive, which took effect on May 17, was disclosed in a statement signed by the Deputy Comptroller General, Mr AB Yarima.
According to the service, which is under the Federal Ministry of Interior, the suspension was necessary in order to ease the preparation for the commencement of a new passport regime.
“This directive, which comes into effect from today, May 17, 2021, has become necessary to allow enough time to clear all backlog of applications sequel to the commencement of the new passport regime on June 1, 2021,” said the NIS.
It added, “Consequent upon the foregoing, all PCOS are, therefore, directed to utilise this period, May 17, 2021, to May 31, 2021, to ensure that all backlogs are produced and handed over to command comptrollers for collection by members of the public concerned.”
All offices nationwide were advised to comply with the suspension of all applications until June 1.
This would be a setback to moves by the federal government to ease the process of getting passports with plans to issue the document to applicants in the 774 local government areas in the country within 72 hours.
Last month, the Minister of Interior, Mr Rauf Aregbesola, said the President Muhammadu Buhari-led administration was responding to the yearnings of the general public for the ministry and the NIS to devise more efficient ways of processing the passports.
He had said, “It is the future. The goal is to have a facility like this in every local government in the country.
“Every Nigerian has the right to a Nigerian passport and it is our responsibility to put it in the hands of anyone desirous of it within the shortest possible time, without stress.
“The passport should be available within a maximum of 72 hours of a successful application. Where there are issues, the applicant must be notified within 48 hours.”
