*Orders immediate removal of bottlenecks to passport issuance

Nigeria Immigration Service (NIS) has been given marching orders to ensure it has in its repository accurate data of all expatriates in the country as well as remove all bottlenecks to accessing the international passport.

The Minister of Interior, Olubunmi Tunji-Ojo, gave the orders during his maiden familiarization visit to the NIS headquarters in Abuja.

The minister expressed displeasure at the lack of correct data of expatriates and charged the service to look into several agreements it has entered into to ensure efficiency in service delivery to Nigerians.

“Any agreements (entered into by NIS) that is holding us back as a nation must go,” the minister said.

He promised to look into several agreements the NIS had with service providers, adding that those agreements were holding the service back in actualising its mandates.

Speaking on the need to reduce the waiting period before getting an international passport, the minister lamented that Nigerians spend months to get the document.

“My daughter waited for six months to get her passport booklet. I was a House committee chairman on the NDDC and I faced this, tell me what an average Nigerian will face. It’s like we are waiting for a passport to heaven,” he said

Tunji-Ojo therefore ordered the NIS to dismantle all bottlenecks hindering the swift issuance of passports to Nigerians.

He also demanded that Nigerians living outside the shores of the country deserve to be respected and should be treated with respect by immigration officials abroad instead of being extorted.

He urged the London immigration office to improve it’s services and accord Nigerians maximum respect while seeking for travel documents to UK; adding that our citizens, wherever they are, must be proud to be Nigerians.