Nigeria clears 200k passport backlog, cuts issuance time to two weeks

Nigeria’s beleaguered passport issuance system is witnessing a revolution lately with a huge backlog of 204,332 passports cleared in three weeks by the Nigeria Immigration Service (NIS).

In a recent press conference, Minister of Interior Olubunmi Tunji-Ojo, whose ministry oversees passport issuance in Nigeria, said one novelty is that the travel document will from December be delivered in maximum two weeks after biometric enrollment, Arise News reports.

In September, Tunji-Ojo gave a two-week ultimatum to the NIS to print pending passports for applicants whose biometrics had long been captured. The move, the minister said at the time, came on the heels of instructions from President Bola Tinubu to put an end to the travails of obtaining a passport in Nigeria.

Speaking at the recent presser in Abuja, Tunji-Ojo said as of October 1, all the passport backlog had been cleared. The NIS mobilized its staff, who worked extra shifts and on weekends to meet the target. He said the system’s service providers also augmented their printing capacity to good effect.

According to Tunji-Ojo, measures are also being taken to ensure that by December, those seeking to establish or renew passports can submit their application details online via a dedicated portal, and then show up at any passport office only for biometrics enrollment, and later, collection.

This step, he explained, is part of ongoing efforts by the government to curb the amount of time and money needed to obtain a passport.

While commending the NIS and its partners for the recent feat, Tunji-Ojo has also launched a fervent appeal to all those whose cards have been produced to pass around and pick them up. Giving figures, he expressed regret that of the over 200,000 passports printed as part of the backlog clearance, only 94,000 have been collected.

He said it would make no sense if the ID documents, which the NIS worked so hard to produce in a few weeks, are left piled up on passport office tables.

24k daily passport production era coming soon

Relatedly, the Interior Minister, last month, talked of passport production reforms which would lead to a 24,000 daily production capacity by the NIS, as reported by The Punch.

The minister disclosed this in a recent exchange with officials of the UN Office on Drugs and Crime, saying this would commence as soon as the backlog was cleared.

Article Topics

Africa  |  biometric passport  |  biometrics  |  digital ID  |  Nigeria  |  travel documents