The Nigeria Immigration Service (NIS), has directed passport offices across the country to work on Saturdays to clear the backlog of passport applications.
The directive is contained in a statement made available by the Service’s Public Relations Officer, Mr Tony Akuneme, in Abuja on Saturday.
He said that the directive was to enable the Service to reduce the backlog occasioned by the 2020 and 2021 prolonged lockdown due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
“The CG has directed that Passport offices across the country with a high volume of pending applications work on Saturdays.
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“The period for this exercise is expected to be every Saturday commencing from December 3, 2022, to January 28, 2023, between the period of 10 am to 2 pm.
“This is to enhance our service delivery to our esteemed clients.
“The Saturday proceeding the Christmas and New Year holidays are exempted, ” he said.
Akuneme said that the Comptroller-General, Mr Isa Jere, who gave the directive also approved the deployment of the Passport Controller in Ekiti to Jigawa, while the one in Ondo was moved to the NIS Zonal office in Ibadan.
The NIS spokesman stated that going forward, the CG would hold passport officers accountable for any acts of indiscipline by officers under their watch.
Many Nigerians have been expressing difficulties in getting the passport booklets though the NIS had insisted that there was no scarcity of the document.
