The huge crowd storming various immigration offices to collect the Nigerian passports has raised concerns among Nigerians.
To curb this recent issue, the Federal Government discloses that plans are underway to commence home delivery of Nigerian passports to applicants.
The Minister of Interior, Rauf Aregbesola, made the disclosure on Saturday at the opening of the Nigeria Immigration Service (NIS) Passport Front Desk Office in Auchi, Edo State.
The Role Of NIPOST
According to the minister, negotiations are ongoing with the Nigerian Postal Service (NIPOST).
The aim is to utilise its speedy mail service to start delivering passports to Nigerians who opt for such a service.
“We are in the final stage of concluding negotiations with NIPOST to begin using its speed mail service to deliver passports to Nigerians wherever they are in the world after production.”
The New Front Office
Aregbesola also spoke about the new Passport Front Office in Auchi.
He says, the project is part of the government’s effort towards effective service delivery to Nigerians.
“It was the intention of the government to provide the passport to anyone desirous of it within a reasonable time, at an affordable price and without any stress.
“Our current working schedule is that fresh application would take six weeks after biometric data registration and three weeks for renewal.
This is reasonable, competitive, and in line the global best practices.
“The challenge, however, is the waiting period at the point of application and data registration.
All applicants will be put in a queue, depending on the centre of their choice, to determine the registration date.
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“Regrettably, it might take two months in some highly competitive centres where the application is very high. We have no control over this.”
Intentional Act
The minister explains that the opening of more front desk offices was an intentional act by the government to increase the registration centres and reduce the waiting period before biometric data capture.
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“This year alone, the Minister of Interior had been in Daura in Katsina State, Alimosho in Lagos, Ilesa in Osun, Zaria in Kaduna, and Oyo in Oyo State to commission Passport Front Desk Offices.”
