Applicants to Blame for Passport Delays – NIS

The Nigerian Immigration Service (NIS) blamed the applicants’ actions and inaction for the delays experienced in processing passport applications in Nigeria.

The NIS said passports delayed more than eight weeks are those for which applicants provided incorrect information and their applications were rejected by the system.

He said such cases are usually very difficult to resolve if applicants have provided the wrong contact details such as phone numbers and emails.

Tony Akuneme, assistant comptroller of immigration and PRO services, told BusinessDay that more than 45% of passport applicants have no idea what exactly they want to use it for, as there are more 140,000 passports awaiting collection in Nigeria, some of which are now expired.

Akuneme said that some applicants had started the process and had reason to travel to other African countries by sea or desert and had given up their passports, while others had left the agents handling the passports and moved on to another officer.

He said: Some people are traveling with other people’s documents and now they want to get a new passport. When they go to a Nigerian embassy, ​​wherever they are, and put in their fingerprints, the system will automatically reject their applications. They don’t understand the idea of ​​the electronic passport. This is because the system will indicate that you are introducing yourself as a new person instead of someone who has already registered.

So when that happens, they feel like they’re being held back. It is in the process of producing these passports that we discover that the automated integrated fingerprinting system has rejected them. It’s because the owners have had passports before and they haven’t disclosed it and they come and get another one, possibly with another name or information, and that’s only when they have completed the receiving process and left that we go to the back end and we find out that the system says the candidate is fake.

He said that all efforts to reach these applicants are often unsuccessful because the contact details they provided on the application are wrong.

Only in Nigeria do you see people changing the date and place of birth. Most Nigerians issue passports, driving licenses and other documents through agents who give false information about applicants. We at NIS are the ones who are frustrated. We have enough booklets. In Lagos alone, in one month, 35,000 booklets were distributed, he said.

Akuneme, however, said that while collection in Lagos can take a little longer than in other states due to population, states like Enugu, Owerri, Anambra, Jigawa, Sokoto and Adamawa take between two days and one week for collection after Capture.

He said: Some Nigerians think their passports are not genuine and they will not get visas unless they are issued in Lagos or Abuja. We are working to change this perception for Nigerians. I sent people to Umuahia and in seven days they get their passports. This is because there is no precipitation in these places. I sent a family to Awka in Anambra State, and within three days they got their passports.

The electronic passport is one of the most respected in terms of integrity throughout the world. Nigeria is the fifth in terms of countries to have migrated to enhanced passports in the world. We want Nigerians to know that they can go online and apply and come to any passport office of their choice and they will be taken care of. Although, in Lagos, we have crowds because of the population.

He said the national identity number issues will soon be resolved as the National Identity Management Commission attempts to integrate its systems with those of the NIS to facilitate passport processing.