A total of 2,742,207 passports have been issued by the Nigeria Immigration Service (NIS) in the last two years.
Minister of Interior, Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola, revealed this when he appeared at a media briefing organised by the Presidential Media Team at the Presidential Villa, Abuja on Thursday.
He said: “It is important to inform you that we have witnessed growing demand for the Nigerian passport both locally and by Nigerians in the diaspora. A total of 2,742,207 passports of different categories were issued between 2019 to date.
“The year-on-year increasing growth rate is however putting a lot of pressure on the current processing structure and resources and further justifies the need for a reform in the passport application and processing system in line with the current reality.”
He said that his ministry is not unaware of the challenges Nigerians face trying to process passports, adding that efforts are bing made to deal with the problem.
He stated: “The Ministry is aware of the challenges faced by applicants for processing and reissue of passports. I want to use this unique opportunity to assure Nigerians that the current experience will soon be a thing of the past. New production and capture centres will be opened in the next few weeks to ease access by Nigerians all over the world.
“I am pleased to inform Nigerians that the Ministry has taken substantial measures to address the issue of shortages of the e-passport booklets. This year alone, the ministry approved a special deployment of over 600,000 passport booklets, the largest of its kind ever done, to cushion the effects of shortages being experienced.”
On the effort to tackle corruption, the minister pointed out the recent sting operation carried out by the Acting Comptroller General of the NIS, Isa Jere, at the Ikoyi Passport Office, saying that reforms such as new appointment management system are being put in place to rout corruption.
Aregbesola also stated that 174,000 jobs have been created for Nigerians through the administration of Expatriate Quotas and Business Permits.
He explained: “Between 2019 and October 2021, over 87,000 expatriate quotas were granted, 951 business permits were granted and 598 licenses were issued to public places of worship for the conduct of statutory marriages.
“172:000 understudy jobs have been created through the expatriate quota administration system. We recently inaugurated a Ministerial Task Force on the Monitoring of Expatriate Quota.
“The primary objective is to audit, monitor and enforce the conditions for the approval of expatriate quota and foreign business permit. Nigerians may wish to note that one of the conditions for the approval of Expatriate Quota is that for every expatriate position, the company must employ two Nigerians to understudy the expatriate.”
On response to the recent collapsed multi-storey building in Ikoyi, Aregbesola said the Federal Fire Service (FFS) did not shirk their responsibility as they did their best in the salvage operation.
He said the FFS were the first responders at the site and did their utmost in the circumstance.
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