Immigration laments unclaimed 5,000 passports in Ondo, Ekiti

• Says accumulation on steady rise since 2017
• Plans means of contacting applicants

The Nigerian Immigration Service (NIS), at the weekend, lamented the staggering number of passport booklets that applicants in Ondo and Ekiti states had yet to claim.

According to the Service, a total of 5,000 uncollected passport booklets are at the Commands of the two states, with Ondo having 2,000 and Ekiti 3,000.

Assistant Comptroller-General of Immigration in charge of Land Border, Emmanuel Fagbamigbe, who disclosed this at the Ondo State Headquarters of the Service, said that the huge accumulation of the booklets had been growing steadily since 2017.

Fagbamigbe, who noted that a significant number of the passports would expire in the upcoming months, highlighted that the situation had become a source of concern to the NIS.

He said that the Service had improved on its mechanism of sending bulk messages to applicants to collect their passport booklets, stressing that applicants are now being called on the phone to alert them.