Interior Minister directs NIS to immediately clear 200,000 passport applications..
On Thursday, Minister of Interior, Olubunmi Tunji-Ojo, issued a firm directive to the Nigeria Immigration Service (NIS), ordering the swift processing of over 200,000 pending international passport applications within a period of two weeks.
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The Minister conveyed this directive during a meeting that included senior government officials, Acting Comptroller General Adepoju Carol, and the Managing Director of Iris Smart Technologies, a third-party company responsible for passport booklet production.
This order aligns with the Minister’s commitment to eliminating obstacles in obtaining passports and other immigration documents. He emphasized the urgency of the passport issue, citing daily complaints from Nigerian citizens, which have become a source of embarrassment for President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, whom he represents as Minister.
He stated, “I consider the passport issue a national emergency. I receive daily emails from concerned Nigerians, and we cannot continue in this manner. The embarrassment it causes to President Bola Ahmed Tinubu is now mine. I stand by my words, and I expect the backlog to be cleared within two weeks.”
During the meeting, Acting Comptroller General Adepoju Carol and Managing Director Yinka Fisher assured the Minister that they would employ all necessary resources and measures to expedite the processing of the pending passport applications.
Adepoju revealed that, despite the enrollment figure reaching 200,000 across the country as of Thursday morning, the agency had secured an adequate supply of passport booklets to address the backlog.
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