FG begins issuance of 10-year-validity passports in London, Atlanta

The Nigeria Immigration Service says it will soon start the issuance of its enhanced 10 years validity passports in London and Atlanta, U.S.

The Controller-General of the Service, Muhammad Babandede, disclosed this at a briefing with newsmen in Abuja on Wednesday.

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Babandede said that the new enhanced passport would solve a lot of issues related to passport renewal by Nigerians in diaspora.

He said one of the challenges facing the agency was the non-availability of passport booklets, adding that efforts were ongoing to address the problems.

He said the service was working at deploying more machines and personnel to Nigeria Foriegn missions abroad to clear the backlogs of passports for those who had registered.

“The new enhanced passport is intended to solve many problems especially the number of times Nigerians need to come and renew their passports.

“The idea is to also link the identity of Nigerians to their National Identification Number, which means we’re reducing identity theft in the country,” he said. (NAN)