THE Nigerian government says it extended commencement of the new passport regime by one week from June 1st to June 8th to enable the Nigeria Immigration Service (NIS) to reposition itself for improved service delivery.
A statement signed by Assistant Comptroller Public Relations Officer of the Service Amos Okpu said the extension was also in furtherance of a directive by the Minister of Interior Rauf Aregbesola to clear all backlog of passport applications across issuing centres.
“The period shall be used to attend to applicants for collection, clear all remaining backlogs as well as improve systems automation for the take-off of the new passport regime,” the statement said in part.
Meanwhile, short message notifications sent out by passport control officers to applicants for the collection of ready passports is proving to be effective. Out of 230, 500 cleared passports, 187, 150 have been collected, but 43, 350 are yet to be taken.
Chika Obinna confirmed to The ICIR that he was captured on March 24 for his passport and had received an SMS for collection, just as Kelechi Chukwueke and other applicants posted on Twitter that they had collected their passports after receiving notifications from the NIS.
However, a lot more Nigerians who applied for renewal of their passports earlier this year said via the app that they were yet to receive the notification for collection and their names were missing on the list of ready passports published on the NIS website www.immigration.gov.ng.
“Please those of us outside the country are faced with similar situation. It’s been three months since I applied to renew my passport (Washington center) and we have not heard anything. Is there a way we can track status of our passport application also?? Please help!” Ogunbanwo Ayo inquired, tweeting @nigimmigration.
Another diaspora Nigerian Phemmy Psalm son tweeted: “Does this notice affect the mission abroad? It’s more than two months since I applied for my passport renewal at the Atlanta, GA embassy. No update from them, and they do not answer phone calls.”
The NIS said it was working to resolve these complaints as soon as possible and had been offering real-time responses to inquiries sent via social media.