The Nigeria Immigration Service, (NIS), has announced the opening of a new electronic passport, (e-passport), [production facility in Kano to allow Nigerians to access its services with ease.

Commissioning the new facility Wednesday in Kano, Comptroller General of Immigration, Isah Idris, said that the passport reform process is still in progress, especially the fast track program designed specifically for those who returned from different parts of the globe for the yuletide.

He said the agency is committed to issuing passports between three to six weeks, post biometric capture, if there are no technical hitches or application irregularities such as inconsistencies in the National Identity Number, (NIN), of applicants.

In a statement signed by the Public Relations Officer, (PRO), of the service, Tony Akuneme, Idris emphasized that NIN remains a mandatory requirement for the issuance of passports and that the information in both documents must match.

Represented by the Assistant Comptroller General, (ACG), Sadat Hassan, the CG expressed delight that the agency has been receiving positive feedback from the various passport offices across the country which he said shows that” our people appreciate the novel initiative.

“We intend to keep the two weeks processing time frame open to all diasporas until January 31st when the program will come to an end.“

“We reiterate our official position that passport applicants should please avoid using third parties but go online and make their applications and payments themselves at passport.immigration.gov.ng.

“We continue to deal with the challenges of recalcitrant touts as well as few bad eggs amongst the personnel who are bent on sabotaging the reform process,” he laments.

He warns the public of the nefarious activities of racketeering syndicates who have gone a step further to even circulate fake news on the immigration recruitment exercises.

He said, “The NIS is not recruiting at this moment and will always publish such recruitment as usual, anytime we secure the federal government’s approval for recruitment.”

The NIS boss adds that his management team remains focused on improving service delivery with particular emphasis on efficient and seamless passport administration, border security and the welfare of officers and men of the Service.

Meanwhile, the agency has again called on applicants to visit its various offices to pick up their passport booklets as there are over  110,000 uncollected passports across the 36 states and Federal Capital Territory, (FCT), awaiting pick-up by their owners.