Olubunmi Tunji-Ojo, the interior minister, has given the Nigeria Immigration Service (NIS) two weeks to process the more than 200,000 pending passport applications that are on its desk.
On Thursday in Abuja, the minister gave the directive while speaking with Caroline Adepoju, the acting comptroller-general of NIS.
In addition, Yinka Fisher, the managing director of Iris Smart Technologies, the organisation in charge of creating the booklets for Nigerian passports, was present.
The minister claimed that the decree carried out his pledge to eliminate all obstacles to obtaining passports and other immigration documents.
I continue to receive daily emails from Nigerians complaining, so as far as I’m concerned, the passport issue is a national emergency. This cannot go on like this.
It has made President Bola Tinubu uncomfortable. I am his minister here, and I speak for him.
“I now own that embarrassment. I’m not altering what I’ve said. In two weeks, I need the backlog to be finished, the minister said.
Mr. Tunji-Ojo claimed that each day he received updates on passport enrollments.
“We’ll also make sure that all of our debts are paid off by November. I continue to believe that the passport application process must move forward, he emphasised.
Ms. Adepoju and Mr. Fisher assured the minister in their remarks that they would use all necessary means to reduce the backlog of passport requests.
Despite the fact that there were 200,000 enrolments nationwide as of Thursday morning, Ms. Adepoju revealed that the NIS had acquired enough textbooks to eliminate the backlog.
In the meantime, the minister met strategically with Ahmed Audi, the commandant-general of the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC), Haliru Nababa, the controller-general of the Federal Fire Service (FFS), Abdulganiyu Jaji, and the controller-general of the Nigeria Correctional Service (NCOs).
He gave them a four-week deadline to create a workable roadmap that includes timelines, approaches, deliverables, and methodology.
