Passport office issues 14,000 e-passports in 6 months — official

The Nigeria Immigration Service (NIS), FESTAC Passport Office in Lagos State, has issued more than 114,000 e-passports since its inauguration in December 2020.

Mrs Adeola Adesokan, the Passport Control Officer in charge of the office, said this in an interview with News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Wednesday.

NAN reports that the Controller-General of the NIS, Mr Muhammed Babandede, on Dec. 14, 2020 issued the first enhanced e-passports.

According to Adesokan, the office has released the list of applicants whose passports are ready for collection.

“The FESTAC  Passport Office currently has 580 Nigerians on the list and their international passports are ready for collection.

“This is in line with the directive of the minister of interior that all passports backlog should be cleared on or before June 8,’’ she said.

She assured the public that the office would work relentless to clear the backlog by June 8.

Adesokan said: “However, we need the collaboration of the National Identity Management Commission (NIMC) to clear the backlog.

“It is only when applicants have been confirmed by NIMC and returned same to NIS through its portal that NIS can embark on processing passports for them”.

Adesokan noted that many Nigerians who were not aware of this process, blamed the NIS when the processing of their passports was delayed.

The NIS had suspended fresh passport application to allow clearance of backlog of all passport applications received before May 17, giving a deadline of June 8 to do so.