Nigeria Immigration clears 55,000 of 200,000 outstanding passports

The Nigeria Immigration Service (NIS) says it has cleared 55,000 out of the 200,000 international passports awaiting issuance to applicants.

The development is coming on the heels of an order given by the Interior Minister, Olubunmi Tunji-Ojo.

The minister issued the order five days ago.

Tunji-Ojo revealed this during a meeting with Humanitarian Affairs and Poverty Alleviation Minister Betta Edu in Abuja yesterday.

He reassured that once the remaining 145,000 passport backlogs were cleared, it would take new applicants only two weeks to receive the travel document.

Tunji-Ojo had at a parley with NIS authorities on September 7 maintained that under his watch, Nigerians home and abroad, would not be subjected to hardships and bottlenecks in the process of obtaining passport booklets. He consequently gave them 14 days to issue the pending 200,000 to their owners.

He had said: “Delays in the processing and enrolment of passports in Nigeria have been a source of frustration for citizens, causing significant delays in obtaining crucial travel documents.

“Having to deal with about 200,000 backlogs calls for a national emergency.

“As far as I am concerned, the issue of passport is a national emergency; I keep getting emails daily from Nigerians complaining.”