Chinedu Eze and Michael Olugbode in Abuja
The Comptroller General of Immigration Service (CGI), Caroline Wura-Ola Adepoju, has frowned on officials allegedly involved in extortion of passport applicants and vowed to carry out thorough investigation and punish anyone involved in the obnoxious act.
A statement from the agency, signed by the Deputy Comptroller of Immigration, Aridegbe Adedotun, Service Public Relations Officer, said the complaints from passport applicants over extortion and delayed issuance of passports were received by Immigration “with deep concern”.
In a reaction, the Comptroller General of Immigration has ordered an investigation into the matter, especially in regards to the noncompliance with ministerial directives on the timeline of passport administration.
“Following the complete clearance of passport application backlogs nationwide in line with the directive of the Minister of Interior, Dr. Olubunmi Tunji-Ojo, a new timeline of two weeks for processing and issuance of passport was announced by the Minister on the 4th of October, 2023.
“The Minister and the CGI provided different phone numbers to the general public to report misdemeanors by NIS personnel at any of our offices,” the statement said.
It also stated that Immigration has on a daily basis, monitored the compliance level at all passport offices nationwide and at the missions abroad, disclosing that Immigration receives daily reports on production and issuance of passports from all passport Control Officers.
“As at Friday 13th October, 2023, most of our passport offices are producing passports of applicants enrolled on Wednesday, 11th October,2023.
“The Service wishes to use this opportunity to enlighten the general public that applications for reissuance of lost passport and change of data takes a longer time. Some applicants in this category may put the Service in bad light when they complain of delay and noncompliance with the new timeline.
“These applications are required to go through security clearance and correspondence with Service Headquarters before approval for production,” the statement said.
Meanwhile, Immigration has appealed to members of the public to feel free to contact the Service through its various public communication channels including Twitter, Facebook handles (@nigimmigration) and its Contact Centers to report any form of misconduct by any member of the workforce for appropriate sanctions.
“The Service enjoins prospective passport applicants to please visit the Nigeria Immigration Service’s official website at immigration.gov.ng to apply for passports and make payments for their preferred passport categories and avoid patronizing individuals or entities that request cash payments for passport services,” Immigration said.
