The new Passport Control Officer (PCO) of Nigeria Immigration Service (NIS), Ikoyi Passport Office, Mrs.A. O Bewaji has assured that in no distance time, passport procurement would be within six weeks.
The PCO, who took over office 10 days ago, said her aim in the office was to change the narratives as instructed by the Comptroller- General of Immigration.
According to her, applicants would no more suffer a delay in procurement of Passports as it would take a new applicant six weeks to get his or her passport while it would take applicants three weeks for the renewal of passports.
Deputy Controller of Immigration, Bawaji , during a chat with the media Wednesday, vowed to clear the backlogs of passports and also deal decisively with touts loitering around the passport office.
According to her, the office has materials, including a booklet for passports adding that the era of suffering applicants seeking passports was over:” As you can see, we are seriously clearing backlogs of Passports. We are not doing it alone, but with the help of the NIS task force from Abuja, we are ready to clear the backlogs of passports.
” We have received complaints from Nigerians and we are doing our best to serve them better. We are pleading with Nigerians to exercise patience with us as we would soon meet their demands. Those who want to renew their passport would get it in three weeks while those who are applying for new ones will get it in six weeks.
“Applicants should try to validate their National Identity Number (NIN) and make sure that their names and information must also correspond with what is in their application. We have created a new unit where complaints should be lodged and we are going to build suggestion boxes where a member of the public will be dropping their complaints and suggestions that will make us appraise ourselves .”
“Throughout my tenure, service delivery will be taken to a greater level; applicants will be attended to on the basis of first come first serve. The ministerial order on passport issuance administration reforms would be strictly adhered to. Now we have enough passport booklets.
“One of the greatest challenges confronting us is the issue of power which is hindering the processing of passports at Ikoyi. Thank God a new generation bank, Access bank has just given us a 100kv generating set; now we have been able to overcome the challenge. We have placed a big banner outside the entrance of the Ikoyi office for every applicant to have access to the price. We are presently printing flyers to educate applicants on what to do before even applying for passports. We will educate the public on what to do about their NIN and the difference between NIN and NIS because people misunderstand that NIN is a separate office from NIS. If we are able to guide applicants on what to do, we will do away with touts”.
However, she warned officers to sit tight and touts to leave the vicinity as it would no longer be business as usual.
