The Federal government of Nigeria has reduced passport processing time to six weeks.
The Federal Government made this known on Thursday 23, April through the Miniter of interior Ogbeni Rauf Aragbesola. According to the Minister, the Federal Government is turning around the entire passport application process by the Nigeria Immigration Service (NIS) and shortening passport processing time to six weeks. Promising that the process will now be seamless and transparent. The process will accord human dignity to the applicants and fulfill citizenship integrity, in line with the mandate of the ministry.
In a meeting with the Comptroller General of Immigration, Mohammad Babandede, and the attaches in Nigeria's Missions abroad, the Minister said, "We have had several challenges in the past, including shortage of booklets, touting, racketeering, inflating the cost, passports being issued to ineligible persons, among others.
"It has become imperative therefore to review our operations and rejig our system, in order to be able to offer excellent services to our clients."
The minister added that efforts are underway to embed visible and invisible security operatives in all passport offices. "They will wear body cameras. They will detect and report any form of solicitations, inflation, improper communications, extortion, diversion, hoarding, and other corrupt practices. Those caught will be dealt with according to the law," he stressed.
The minister stressed that an ombudsman will also be created for members of the public to receive complaints and reports on officers trying to deviate from prescribed guidelines and subversion of the process.
"Therefore, I am declaring a zero-tolerance stance to all forms of touting. No applicant will be made to pay any illegitimate fees" Aregbesola stated.
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