Passport issuance: NIS introduces tracking system

The Nigerian Immigration Service has introduced a passport tracking system for applicants to monitor the statuses of their applications.

The Acting Comptroller-General of the NIS, Isah Jere Idris, disclosed this during a virtual interaction with journalists at the weekend.

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   He said this was part of the efforts      towards improving the process of issuance and collection of passports.

 “With the system, applicants can now trace the status of their passports from the comfort of their homes. 

“What applicants just need to do is to log on to www.trackimmigration.gov.ng <http://www.trackimmigration.gov.ng/> and upload their details. This system is already in place and Nigerians should take advantage of it,” he said.

Idris decried the increasing number of Nigerians seeking override of the newly introduced appointment system for passport issuance, describing it as an abuse of system. 

He explained that the appointment system was introduced to reduce physical interface with personnel, overcrowding and arbitrariness which “have all consistently combined to promote corruption and abuse.” 

He said rather than wait for the appointment date for capturing, many Nigerians were seeking “to jump the process by turning in myriads of requests for waiver for all conceivable reasons.”

He said on the order of the Minister of Interior, Rauf Aregbesola, the NIS had tried to ensure the sacrosanctity of the three-week duration for passport renewal and six-week duration for new applications.  

He said the NIS was also planning to introduce an alert system to notify Nigerians whenever their passports have only six months to expire.