Accolades as Ikoyi passport boss retires from immigration

The Ikoyi Passport Office of the Nigerian Immigration Service stopped work temporarily on Tuesday as officers of the service and other well-wishers gave the Passport Control Officer (PCO) Mannir Yari, a befitting send-off party as he retired from service this month.

The event, which was chaired by the Assistant Comptroller-General (ACG) in charge of Zone A, Mohammed Alfa, was an occasion for serving officers to recall the good deeds of Yari, who enlisted in Nigeria Immigration Service about 35 years ago and took charge as PCO of Ikoyi Passport Office in May 2018.

Speaking at the event, ACG Alfa said the PCO was retiring gloriously because he had over the years remained focused, loyal to constituted authorities, disciplined, committed, and hard-working apart from being God-fearing. He, therefore, enjoined officers and men who are still in service to emulate Yari, who brought progressive changes to various formations he had worked in, particularly the Ikoyi Passport Office.

The retiring Comptroller recalled his early days as the PCO Ikoyi and how he was able to surmount the challenges he met on the ground. These challenges, according to him, included a non-functional electricity system in the offices, piles of files of unprocessed passport forms, and an overwhelming population of touts around the passport office environment.

He pointed out that initially, the challenges were intimidating but he looked up to God and also applied some management principles he had acquired over the years to solve the problems.