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Akinwande Soji-Ojo
The Nigeria Immigration Service (NIS), has directed passport offices across the country to work on Saturdays in order clear the backlog of passport applications.
The directive was contained in a statement made available to newsmen by the NIS Public Relations Officer, Tony Akuneme, on Saturday.
He said that the directive was to enable the service reduce the backlog occasioned by the 2020 and 2021 prolonged lockdown due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
“The CG has directed that passport offices across the country with a high volume of pending applications to work on Saturdays.
“The period for this exercise is expected to be every Saturday commencing from December 3, 2022, to January 28, 2023, between the period of 10am to 2pm.
“This is to enhance our service delivery to our esteemed clients.
“The Saturday preceding the Christmas and New Year holidays are exempted,” the statement read.
According to Akuneme, the Comptroller-General, Isa Jere, who gave the directive also approved the deployment of the Passport Controller in Ekiti to Jigawa, while the one in Ondo was moved to the NIS Zonal office in Ibadan.
The NIS spokesperson added that going forward, the CG would hold passport officers accountable for any acts of indiscipline by officers under their watch.
