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Nigerian Passport Issuance Will Now Take Two Weeks To Process –Interior Minister

The federal government has announced a two-week timeline for passport issuance, putting an end to long waiting periods.

Speaking at a press conference in Abuja on Wednesday, Minister of Interior, Olubunmi Tunji-Ojo, said the Nigeria Immigration Service (NIS) has cleared over 204,000 backlog of passport applications in the last three weeks.

He apologised to Nigerians that the clearance of the backlog had spilled into three weeks as opposed to the two weeks deadline he gave.

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“On September 7, we made a promise to sort out the backlogs in two weeks but we made it in three weeks and I sincerely want to apologise to Nigerians for that,” he said.

He noted that the backlogs were cleared through increased printing capacity and round-the-clock work by NIS staff.

The minister said all 204,332 backlogged applications were cleared by October 1, with 91,981 passports already collected and 112,351 passports available.

“We want to ensure that nobody waits for more than two weeks to get their passports.

“As of October 1, we had cleared all the 204,332 backlogs and from the records produced by NIS, the number of passport already collected is 91,981. Outstanding but available is 112,351.”

The minister pleaded with Nigerians to go to the NIS offices to collect their passports, adding that they should not pay but report any officials engaged in racketeering.

“Please, do not give money to anybody. If there is any passport office where you have done your capturing and they do not give you your passports, please lodge your complaints via the following; 0802 375 3414, preferably SMS and Whatsapp. Or email aa-ajiboye@yahoo.com.”

 

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