Razaq Bamidele
Minister of Interior, Ogbeni Rauf Adesoji Aregbesola, has told Nigerians that issuance and procurement of the Nigerians Passport are now easier and safe, saying, the Federal Government has digitalised payments for the important document and so there is no need patronizing touts and unscrupulous officials when applying for it.
Ogbeni Aregbesola disclosed this, in Ibadan, the Oyo State Capital, when rolling out the Enhanced e-Passport with Polycarbonate Data Page and other security features on Monday.
The Minister, in his speech said, “Part of the reforms is the migration of passport application and payments to digital platforms, regretting that, “applicants still patronise touts and unscrupulous officials in the hope to beat the system and get expedited services.”
READ ALSO: http://JIFORM calls for global action against migrants’ restriction
When they were disappointed, Ogbeni Aregbesola continued, “they come to report to us and because we have zero tolerance for corruption and subversion of due process, we therefore take seriously any such report and invoke the necessary disciplinary measures.”
The Minister spoke further, “But I will implore applicants to stop patronising touts and our officials directly. Follow the process we put in place. Apply for passports and pay online. The only engagement with our staff is the enrolment of your biometrics.
“Patronising touts and passport office officials doesn’t always end well, but rather serves to defeat our purpose of eliminating corruption and infusing integrity to the passport administration process.”
On the new application process, he noted that a new timeline has been set for fresh passport application and reissue.
Ogbeni Aregbesola also said, “Our template stipulates maximum six weeks for obtaining new passports and maximum three weeks for renewal.
“We work within this schedule to enable us investigate any claims made by applicants and verify them, for the final document we issue them to have integrity.
“If there are challenges, wait, eventually you will get your passport before your due date of travel, if you apply early enough. You will still have long enough time to apply for visa and other travel documents.
“Nowhere in the world is passport administration done on wait-and-get basis except in extreme emergencies. The only wait-and-get passport is passport photograph.”
Speaking on the new enhanced passport being rolled out in Ibadan, the minister assured that the document is an improved one with high security features.
He emphasised that the Enhanced e-Passport is a great improvement on the Biometric Passport technology which Nigeria adopted in 2007 as a deliberate step towards curbing forgery, impersonation and other forms of travel document fraud associated with the old Machine-Readable Passport regime.
READ ALSO: http://We’re not recruiting – NNPC
Concluding, the Minister, who was the former two term governor of the State of Osun, said further that, “It is the latest technology in passport making anywhere in the world and only few countries have it.
“It is the most secure identity document ever produced and so, we are very proud to make it available to Nigerians,” Ogbeni Aregbesola concluded.
In his remarks on the occasion, the acting Comptroller General of the Nigeria Immigration Service (NIS), CG Isah Jere, reiterated the call by the minister for citizens to stop patronising touts, reminding that, “as you have heard from the Minister, we expect that the only time citizens will have contact with our officers is during the biometric capturing.”
According to him, applicants were to apply and pay only, disclosing that, “soon, we are launching an appointment management system and a tracking system for you to know anywhere you are in the world, the process of your passport application.”
Governor Seyi Makinde of Oyo State, who was represented by his Chief of Staff, Mr. Segun Ogunbiyi, commended the efforts of the Nigeria Immigration Service assuring that the state will continue to support the service in performing its statutory duty.
Dignitaries at the event were the, Alafin of Oyo, Oba Lamidi Olayiwola Adeyemi III; representatives of Olubadan of Ibadan as well as service chiefs of all the paramilitary services in the state amongst a host of others.
