The Nigeria Immigration Service (NIS) has cleared all the 204,332 Passport application backlogs following the two-week deadline given to the NIS on September 7, by the Minister of Interior, Olubunmi Tunji-Ojo.
Information obtained by our correspondent from the minister’s office in Abuja indicated that the backlogs were cleared on October 1 as the personnel of the NIS continued to work to meet the deadline set by the minister.
The Nation recalled that the minister who had on his maiden visit to the Headquarters of the NIS in Abuja had expressed sadness over delays in the issuance of Passports and the harrowing experiences of Nigerians home and abroad, on the matter.
He said he has been following developments in the Nigeria Immigration Service on the issue and urged the Service to change the narratives, insisting that under his watch, Nigerians would not suffer to obtain the documents.
Findings by our correspondent revealed that as of Thursday last week, the total outstanding backlogs of Passports stood at 8,537.
In the first five days of the Minister’s deadline over 55,000 Passport backlogs were cleared, while the figure moved to 97,000 after three weeks.
Reports from across the country showed that some Desks have cleared all Passport backlogs. Kaduna, Port Harcourt, Kano, Katsina, Ilesha, Abuja, and Gwagwalada among others recorded zero backlogs as of Thursday last week. The Nation had reported that over 195,000 were cleared then.
The breakdown showed that between last Thursday and Sunday, October 1st, the Ikoyi Passport Desk cleared a backlog of 5,423.
Festac in Lagos cleared 1,119 backlog, Ibadan cleared 111, while Ilorin cleared 1,017 Passport backlog. Sagamu in Ogun state cleared 867 backlog.
The minister, it was learnt, has promised to keep a close watch on the operations of the personnel of the NIS in the country to ensure compliance with his directives that all human errors and interfaces that precipitate delays in the issuance of Passports should be avoided forthwith.
