The federal government says the passport application processing time by the Nigeria Immigration Service (NIS) will now take six weeks.
The Minister of Interior, Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola disclosed this today at a meeting with the Comptroller General of Immigration, Mohammad Babandede, Passport Officers, as well as the attaches in Nigeria Missions abroad, at the Immigration Headquartres, Sauka, Abuja.
According to him, the review will ensure a seamless, transparent operation, as well as “accord human dignity to applicants and fulfil citizenship integrity in line with the mandate of the ministry”.
In his speech titled ‘A NEW DAWN IN PASSPORT APPLICATION PROCESSING’, the Minister said: “A timeline will be fixed for every application i.e., a collection date. This will be six weeks, comparable to what obtains in other countries,” Aregbesola said.
“This is to allow for enough time to investigate and validate personal information supplied by the applicants.
“What we are driving at is the peace of mind that comes from the assurance of certainty. If there are circumstances that will make the date change, it will be communicated to the applicant one week before the collection date.
“Applicants will have no basis for further communication with officers, other than to complete their application process and leave the venue. The date for the collection of their passports or any challenge to the application will be communicated to them. The technology for the efficient running of this system has been acquired and will be deployed.”
The minister also added that the NIS will publish a list of the backlog of applications that are ready, which have not been collected by the owners.
“They will be required to go to the state commands to collect them,” he added.
Aregbesola also said efforts are on to embed security operatives both “seen and unseen” in all passport offices.
