The Federal Government, through the Ministry of Internal Affairs, has moved to Set-up 1,000 passport processing offices in hotels.
It equally would make use of bank branches in the country to speed up the issuance of the travel document.
This, according to the FG was to help reduce hardships and frustrations experienced by passport applicants who wait in long queues before being attended to.
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In most cases, it was gathered that applicants were left with no choice other than to bribe passport officials to help facilitate the process.
Rauf Aregbesola, Minister of Internal Affairs, who was represented at the October breakfast of the Nigeria-South Africa Chamber of Commerce in Lagos assured the frustration and long queues currently being experienced by Nigerians but will ease before the end of this year.
One of the immigration officers in Abuja said after the online application, applicants are asked to return in six weeks for data capturing before it is then processed; but because there are so many applicants, there are thousands of files to be processed.
He said:
“If you apply today (November 3rd), you will be asked to come on the 14th of December for capturing; then I can bring your file for you to be captured.
Another passport officer said an “express passport”, which can be ready on the day of capturing, costs between N40,000 to N45,000.
According to reports the Ikoyi Passport Office which issues the highest amount of passports gives out an average of 800 passports daily but has over 1,000 requests while Festac and Ikeja issue 1,000 passports daily with over 1,400 requests.
Abuja issues an average of 500 passports daily, with over 900 requests. Kano, Asaba, Ogun, and Ibadan, which also rank top in the mobility of passports, issue 500 passports altogether with almost 1,000 requests.
Other states in Nigeria issue an average of 2,000 passports daily with over 3,500 requests.
This illustrated that daily, passport offices across Nigeria issue at least 4,800 passports daily.
Also, it showed that for five working days in a year, passport offices across Nigeria issue 1,248,000 passports.
The Nigeria Immigration Service approved fees for the passports are as follows: a 32-page five-year standard passport sells for N25,000 or $130 (for overseas applicants), a 64-page five-year standard passport for N35,000 or $150 (for overseas applicants), and a 64-page 10-year standard passport at N70,000 or $230 (for overseas applicants). These fees however exclude bank charges.
Aregbesola opined that the plan to open more processing offices will also lead to the introduction of premium lounges for expedited passport services across the country, but noted that Nigerians seeking to own or renew their passports will be expected to pay a fee.
The minister vowed to defeat those in the ministry who are out to frustrate the reforms being undertaken.
He also appealed to Nigerians not to wait until the last minute before approaching the passport office closest to them.
Newsmen said that the Festac Passport Office in Lagos was rowdy and crowded on Thursday, with applicants struggling to submit forms and queueing up for capturing to either renew their passports or obtain new passports.
Also, it was reported that some applicants appeared confused as to whom to meet to make enquiries and guide them on the steps to take.
Newsmen further observed that at the entrance gates to the street of the Festac Passport Office were people who appeared as ‘marketers’ for passport officials, offering to help new applicants bypass the long queues and facilitate their passport issuance through the help of officials inside the passport office. This, they said, would cost some extra fees.
Some of the applicants told journalists that they had applied for their passports two to three months ago and had continued to visit the office for their passports but had not been given them.
In a bid to address these unwholesome practices, the service has since banned all forms of cash transaction in all its service windows and has asked applicants to fill out passport application forms and make payment online before visiting the passport office.
However, some corrupt passport officials have devised other means to get money from applicants before the collection of their passports.
The minister added that the development will increase the number of passport offices in the country from the current 50.
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