Over 110,000 passports uncollected across Nigeria – Immigration Service

The Nigeria Immigration Service (NIS) has said 112,351 passport booklets are yet to be collected by applicants as of 5th October 2023.

The acting Comptroller General (CG) of the NIS, Adepoju Carol Wura-Ola, disclosed this during a press conference at the Service headquarters in Abuja on Thursday.

The NIS said it had cleared all the 204,332 passport application backlogs after the Minister of Interior Olubunmi Tunji-Ojo’s two-week deadline to the Service.

While disclosing that 91,981 passport booklets have been collected so far, the acting CG said there were 112,351 others not yet collected.

She therefore called on applicants to go to their respective application centres to collect the travel document.

“I invite applicants who have applied for passports to come and pick them up without paying anything extra,” she said.

The acting CG, who lamented that there was high demand for the travel document in the last few years as a result of the ‘Japa syndrome’ in Nigeria, assured that the two-week timeline set by the Minister for the processing of passports would be adhered to.

According to her, the Service and its partners had upgraded their facilities to meet the demand for the document by Nigerians.

She also said the NIS was working with its partners to make the passport application process fully automated, adding that when the process is completed, an applicant would only visit a passport office for biometric capturing.

Adepoju warned applicants to shun touts, urging them to contact the Service via 08067761196 if any personnel demanded a bribe from them to get a passport.

“Any personnel caught demanding bribes would be severely punished. The Minister has directed that we make a scapegoat of any corrupt official caught,” she said.