The Federal Government has said it had taken steps to remove the bottlenecks associated with the issuance of the Nigerian passport within two weeks.
Interior Minister Olubunmi Tunji-Ojo said this while appearing last night on Channels Television’s programme: “Politics Today”.
The minister said President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s administration was passionate to deliver a roadmap with timelines to meet the target.
He said the government would deploy technology to ease the process and reduce cases of corruption within the Nigeria Immigration Service (NIS).
Tunji-Ojo, who assured Nigerians that the NIS would clear the backlog of applications within a short time, added that the current administration also has a plan to create an initiative called the Single Point of Contact (SPOC) for data harmonisation.
Though the minister said the government was considering several options to deliver on the proposed initiative, there was a pointer to the likelihood of the NIS partnering with financial institutions and the Nigerian Postal Service (NIPOST) to use their facilities as operational points for passport issuance.
Tunji-Ojo, who did not disclose the challenges, said Nigerians were more interested in solutions than challenges.
He said: “We have been able to see one or two things we can do so that Nigerians, once again, can smile, knowing fully well that the green passport is what we should get with pride and dignity. Getting an international passport should not take more than two weeks. I have given directives to the Immigration Service to this effect.
“We are reviewing the processes, vis-à-vis national security, national interest, and so many issues. We need to look at the processes.
“We give Nigerians all the assurances that by the grace of God, we will un-bottle all bottlenecks without jeopardising or hurting national security.
“I am in the process of clearing the backlogs and after we are done with that, henceforth, no Nigerian should wait beyond two weeks for his or her passport. We have a lot and soonest, we will come up with a work plan with timelines.
“We will carry both the civil societies and the media along in all we will be doing”.
