The Minister of Interior, Rauf Aregbesola, on Thursday, lamented that, at least, 250,000 passports are awaiting collection in the country.
The minister disclosed this at the unveiling of the enhanced electronic passport facility and commissioning of the passport production centre at the Enugu passport office.
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There has been a recent outcry over alleged delays in passports issuance, but the minister insisted that; “…last time I checked, over 250,000 passports remain uncollected by applicants.
“Their owners will probably be among those complaining they are yet to receive their passports.
“Nevertheless, many applicants are not going to have their passports because of the errors in their applications, which delayed processing.
“They may not know because they applied through touts and other illegal channels,” he said.
The passport production centre, inaugurated three months after the commissioning of that of the Southwest in Ibadan, is to serve entire Southeastern Nigeria.
Aregbesola, who said the federal government was working to phase out the old electronic passports, said its issuance in the Southeast stopped on Thursday 3rd March 2022.
He said the introduction of the enhanced electronic passports was to eradicate scams, racketeering and all other forms of corruption in the application process of the document.
While warning Nigerians not to patronise touts and Nigeria Immigration Service officials, he said that all transactions must be done online.
Speaking at the event, the acting Comptroller General of NIS, Isah Jere Idris, said the new enhanced electronic passport is of a polycarbonate technology with additional 25 security features over the old electronic passport.
“It is the latest passport technology…It is difficult to forge as the improved security features will make any attempt not only impossible but also easily noticeable,” he said.
According to the NIS CG, Nigeria is the first country in Africa to migrate to the type of passport.
The enhanced electronic passport comes in three categories; the 32-page five-year validity, the 64-page five-year validity and the 64-page 10-year validity.
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