As the December date for the directive by the Minister of Interior, Mr Olubunmi Tunji-Ojo, for Nigerians to obtain International passports within two weeks draws near, the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) checks reveal that many applicants were unaware of such pronouncement.
In separate interviews with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) at the Ikeja Passport Office, some of the applicants said they were just got to hear of the development from the NAN correspondent for the first time.
NAN reports that Nigeria’s Minister of Interior told Nigerians on Oct. 4, that the era of waiting for months to get their passports was over. He then announced a two-week timeline for the processing of passport applications.
He made the announcement while giving an update on his directive to the Nigeria Immigration Service to clear over 204,000 backlog of passport applications, which he said was done in three weeks.
The minister also promised that Nigerians would also be saved of the pains of having to wait in long queues to upload the needed information to get their passports issued.
He said that registration would be completed online and the only thing that would be done at any passport office was the biometrics capturing and the collection of issued passports.
He also revealed that the ministry was working at getting the needed equipment to make this possible in December.“obtaining.“obtaining a Nigerian passport now is like requesting for an item that one is not entitled to”.
“I am happy to hear it from you now. That is commitment of a government that want to make things easy for the citizens.
“I came here today to capture, I applied more than four months ago. That is not good at all. God will help the minister to achieve this, Nigerians will always remember him for this feat,” he said.
NAN further quoted the minister as saying that a total of 204,332 backlog of passports cleared, while 94,981 collected by the applicants, leaving 109,351 uncollected.
