According to Dr. Olubunmi Tunji Ojo, Nigeria’s Minister of Interior, the Federal Government intends to open a number of passport offices both domestically and overseas to facilitate the easy acquisition of passports for Nigerians living abroad.
According to Tunji-Ojo, setting up several offices will facilitate the processing of passport applications, lower the demand for passports, and ultimately lessen corruption because fewer people will take advantage of Nigerians to obtain passports on their behalf.
Our focus is firmly on addressing the problem of Nigerians living abroad.
I’ll tell you what the main issue is.
I’ll use Canada as an example to illustrate the main issue with diaspora: Canada is the second-largest country on Earth in terms of land area, trailing only Russia.
There should be more passport offices in Canada; the current one is insufficient.
Naturally, the government may not have the funds to open passport offices everywhere, so we must consider working with the private sector.
For this reason, we have stated that, with God’s grace, we hope to have passport offices across the globe by February of the following year.
On Thursday, October 19, he told Arise News.”.
In the United Kingdom, for example, obtaining a passport requires traveling to London from anywhere in the country, including Aberdeen, Dundee, Cardiff, Manchester, Birmingham, or Hamptons.
Because of this, when there is an excessive demand for something, corruption develops, and people attempt to profit from it.
Thus, giving people access to these resources at their doorstep is the best way to prevent corruption.
“.
“And it’s not just going to be in diaspora,” the minister continued, underscoring that this development will also take place within Nigeria.
We are attempting to achieve these goals by creating front offices, but I can assure those who have been captured in the diaspora that we are working very hard to ensure that we solve these problems because we have a lot of issues with regards to even getting dates for people because of the population vis-à-vis the facility.
As an example, if you live in Lagos or Abuja, nothing stops you if you live in Lokogoma, Wuse, or Maitama.
Why can’t you have a place where you can walk in for your capture and know that you’ll get these things at home?
We’re working really hard, I can assure them.
After resolving the domestic issue, we are now concentrating on the diaspora.
With God’s grace, we will ensure—I accept full responsibility for my words here—that individuals who have been apprehended receive their passports within the next two to three weeks, at the very latest.
Additionally, by February, we will ensure that everything runs smoothly.
To that end, we will relocate passport offices closer to the applicants for the sole purpose of biometric capture.
Naturally, this means that they won’t have to travel to the embassy to obtain their passport or be captured there.
They can gather that as it is now, while lounging in their houses.
“.
According to Tunji-Ojo, the cost of a passport is N35,000.
That’s all.
For example, a five-year passport has approximately 35 pages.
The cost, if the passport is valid for ten years and has sixty-four pages, is N70,000.
Furthermore, I fail to see why anybody would be using proxies at this time.
The fact that payments are made online is the reason I mentioned this.
Online payment is made, and then capture is initiated.
“I know there is a backlog in the process, which may be why people were using proxies earlier, but I want to beg our people to do this themselves.
By December, everything will be uploaded online, including your passport photo, and all you will need is your fingerprint.
Without you, no one will take your fingerprints.
Therefore, kindly refrain from paying anyone.
I would especially ask that you not pay anyone.
The amounts are N30,000 and N75,000.
“.
Next, he stated that in order to lessen workload, he was proposing a policy that would give passports for five years to those under the age of eighteen and ten years to those over the age of eighteen.
