FG Shares Positive News On The Shortage Of Passport Booklets In The Country

The federal government has said that there is no more shortage of booklets for the production of passports in the country, PUNCH reports.

Minister of Interior, Rauf Aregbesola disclosed this at the commissioning of the Enhanced Passport Production Centre in Port Harcourt, the Rivers State Capital on Tuesday August 9.

He further disclosed that no fewer than N1.9 million passports have been issued to Nigerians between January 2021 and June 2022, adding that a total of 1.3 million were issued in 2021 with no fewer 650,000 booklets have been collected by Nigerians as of June 2022.

He said the newly commissioned passport centre will now be responsible for the production of passport demands from Rivers, Cross Rivers, Akwa Ibom and Bayelsa States.

In the statement by his Media Adviser, Sola Fasure, Aregbesola said enough booklets had been distributed across the various centres nationwide.

Aregbesola said;

“We have left no stone unturned in our quest to make passports available to Nigerians. Last year alone, we provided 1.3 million passports to Nigerians. As of today, there is no booklet shortage in Nigeria.

“As of the second quarter of this year (in June), the NIS has provided 645,000 passports out of the 750,000 applications received.

“To address the challenge of the backlog, we have sent 11,000 booklets to Ikoyi, 11,000 to Alausa and 8,000 to FESTAC centres in Lagos.

“We have also sent sufficient booklets to all the centres nationwide to address this challenge. There is, therefore, no excuse again for delay and non-issuance within a reasonable period.”

The Minister also urged applicants for the Nigerian passport to apply early enough before their travel date to avoid cutting corners and falling into the hands of scammers and other opportunists.

He added;

“I will urge applicants for the Nigerian passport to apply early enough before their travel date to avoid cutting corners and falling into the hands of scammers and other opportunists.

“It is important also that they apply by themselves at the Nigeria Immigration Service portal and not through touts and unscrupulous officials, which often bring heartaches.

“We have provided a window of six weeks and three weeks for fresh application and renewal respectively, after biometric data capture, by which time, other things being equal, the passport will be ready for collection.

“This timeline is to enable NIS to investigate and validate the claims of applicants and confer integrity on the passport issued.

“It is a reasonable provision in passport administration by global standard. There is no wait-and-get passport service anywhere in the world. The only wait-and-get passport is a passport-sized photograph from a Polaroid camera.”