The Minister of Interior, Hon. Olubunmi Tunji-Ojo, has officially announced the swift resolution of nearly 60,000 passport backlogs, all accomplished within the span of just four working days.
This development follows the minister’s directive issued to the Nigeria Immigration Service (NIS) on the previous Thursday, instructing them to expedite the processing of all outstanding passport applications.
In Abuja on Tuesday, during a courtesy call with Dr. Betta Edu, the Minister of Humanitarian Affairs and Poverty Alleviation, Alao Babatunde, the Special Adviser on Media and Publicity to the Minister, reported that Tunji-Ojo disclosed this development.
According to him, the visitation was informed by her ministry’s need to collaborate with the interior ministry to drastically reduce human trafficking and other related challenges.
Speaking about the conversation with the minister, Babatunde said,
- “The visitation was informed by the need to extend its hand of partnership to collaborate with the ministry as it seeks to drastically reduce human trafficking and other related challenges including poor veterans’ welfare, underemployment and poverty amongst citizens.
- “Dr Beta Edu noted that the ministry was in the best position to solve issues of human trafficking as it plays a supervisory role on the Nigeria Immigration Service, NIS,” the statement added.
What the minister of Interior is saying
In response, Dr. Tunji-Ojo highlighted the ministry’s openness to such initiatives, emphasizing their consistency with President Bola Tinubu’s Renewed Hope Agenda.
He said,
- “As of this morning, I can tell you that about 60,000 passport backlogs have been cleared, specifically 59,906.
- “On Wednesday, September 6, 2023, when I gave the 2-week ultimatum, we had over 200,000 backlogs.
- “We have recorded progress, and I maintain my word, that those backlogs must be cleared.
- “So, you can be assured that our ministry is ready to work with you on any solution we consider thoughtful and progressive like the ones you have shared.
- “We may only have to expand it to include the welfare of inmates in our correctional homes as they are Nigerians as well.
- “Let’s see how they can benefit from your welfare packages. Of course, there is a lot we can achieve together.”
What You Should Know
Last week, Nairemetrics reported that the Minister of Interior, Olubunmi Tunji-Ojo, issued a directive to service providers partnering with the Nigeria Immigration Service (NIS) to promptly resolve all passport application backlogs within a two-week timeframe.
Also, the Minister took to his official X (formerly Twitter) account to reiterate the directive, highlighting the need to collaborate with service providers as a key step in streamlining the passport and immigration document acquisition process.
He said,
- “As part of swift measures to remove all bottlenecks in the acquisition of passport and immigration documents, I engaged service providers to the immigration service to ensure the backlogs of applications are cleared within the next two weeks.’’