NIGERIA Immigration Service (NIS) has attributed it’s inability sometimes to meet it’s six (6) week fresh passport issuance or three (3) week re-issuance to challenges posed by National Identity Management System ( NIMC).
The service has also advised intending applicants to ensure that their details in their passports and those on their National Identity Number ( NIN) correspond or they will not get passports until that challenge is resolved.
NigerianFLIGHTDECK visited the Ikoyi passport office to observe the situation since the reshuffling of personnel which was carried out October 25, 2021 and noticed the usual rowdiness in the Passport Office has reduced. READ ALSO: Shake up in Nigeria Immigration Service sees redeployment of three PCOs
However, the major challenge experienced with regards collection of passport booklets by applicants were attributed to the marriage of necessity between NIN and the Passport.
Some applicants were told that the NIN portal has been down for weeks and the immigration service could not confirm and match details in both documents.
In a brief encounter with the Passport Control Officer (PCO), Deputy Controller Immigration, Abolupe Bewaji, she explained that applicants always mistakenly think immigration issues NIN and usually lump the blames of delays experienced on the NIN on the service stating that applicants must ensure the have their NIN before applying as doing both simultaneously, especially with down time from the NIN end would lead to such delays.
She said ” For people seeking passports they need their NIN validated before we proceed further on application of passports. This will make the know the delay in the process is not from immigration. All things being equal re-issuance of a passport is three weeks while fresh passports are six weeks.
” We need all hands on deck to educate the public on certain areas for example, the price of passports. It’s online, it’s everywhere and so we need to project it so people are aware and it becomes as it should be.
” We should make the public to know the difference between starting application with immigration and getting you NIN validated correctly.
” All details in your passports should correspond and be arranged the way it is on your NIN Slip, if there are differences, the process will not work and this will cause delay on the passport,” she explained.
