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By Akinwande Soji-Ojo
Minister of Interior, Rauf Aregbesola, on Thursday, lamented that at least 250,000 passports are awaiting collection across the immigration offices in the country.
The minister disclosed this at the unveiling of the enhanced electronic passport facility and commissioning of the passport production centre at Enugu passport office.
There has been an outcry over alleged delays in passports issuance, but the minister insisted that it is the applicants that have refused to pick up their passports.
“The last time I checked, over 250,000 passports remain uncollected by applicants.
“Their owners will probably be among those complaining they are yet to receive their passports.
“Nevertheless, many applicants are not going to have their passports because of the errors in their applications, which delayed processing.
“They may not know because they applied through touts and other illegal channels,” he said.
The passport production centre, inaugurated three months after the commissioning of the one for the South West in Ibadan, is to serve the entire South East.
Aregbesola, who said the Federal Government was working to phase out the old electronic passports, said its issuance in the South East stopped on Thursday March 3, 2022.
He said the introduction of the enhanced electronic passports was to eradicate scams, racketeering and all other forms of corruption in the application process of the document.
While warning Nigerians not to patronise touts and Nigeria Immigration Service(NIS) officials, the minister said that all transactions must be done online.
Speaking, the acting Comptroller General of NIS, Isah Idris, said the new enhanced electronic passport is of a polycarbonate technology with additional 25 security features over the old electronic passport.
“It is the latest passport technology. It is difficult to forge as the improved security features will make any attempt not only impossible but also easily noticeable,” he said.
According to the CG, Nigeria is the first country in Africa to migrate to this type of passport.
The enhanced electronic passport comes in three categories; the 32-page five-year validity, 64-page five-year validity and 64-page 10-year validity.