Mrs. Wura-Ola Adepoju, the Acting Comptroller General of the Nigeria Immigration Service (NIS), reported that as of October 5, 2023, there are 112,351 uncollected passport booklets from applicants in all 36 states of the federation and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).
She made this announcement during a press briefing in Abuja at the Service headquarters. Furthermore, Adepoju mentioned that the Service successfully cleared the backlog of 204,332 passport applications within the two-week deadline set by the Minister of Interior, Olubunmi Tunji-Ojo.
“91,981 passport booklets had been collected so far. There are 112,351 others not yet collected,” she said.
The head of the NIS urged applicants to visit the designated application centers to retrieve their travel documents.
“I invite applicants who have applied for passports to come and pick them up without paying anything extra,” Adepoju said.
The Acting CG noted a significant surge in the demand for travel documents in recent years, mainly due to the “Japa syndrome” in Nigeria. She provided assurance that the two-week deadline set by the Minister for passport processing would be strictly followed.
“The Service and its partners had upgraded their facilities to meet the demand for the document by Nigerians.
“NIS is working with its partners to make the passport application process fully automated and when the process is completed, an applicant would only visit a passport office for biometric capturing, ”
“Any personnel caught demanding bribe would be severely punished; the minister has directed that we make scapegoat of any corrupt official caught,” she said.
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