Yemi Obafemi
The Federal Government has announced a major breakthrough in passport production, with the Nigeria Immigration Service (NIS) now able to process and deliver between 4,500 and 5,000 passports within five hours.
Minister of Interior, Olubunmi Tunji-Ojo, disclosed this on Thursday while inspecting the newly built Centralised Passport Personalisation Centre at the NIS headquarters in Abuja. He was accompanied by the Permanent Secretary of the Ministry, Dr. Magdalene Ajani, and the Comptroller General of Immigration, Kemi Nanna Nandap.
According to the minister, the development is a direct outcome of President Bola Tinubu’s Renewed Hope agenda, anchored on transparency, accountability, and improved service delivery.
He said: ‘With these strategic infrastructural investment, which did not cost a kobo to the government, the NIS can now personalise over 1,000 passports in one hour.
“To put it into perspective, long before this development, the service can only record an average of 250–300 passports daily. But, today, under 5 work hours, the service can now deliver about 4500 to 5000 passports.
“As a major milestone, for the first time in 62 years of the service, this centralisation puts an end to the production of our passports at multiple centres across the world.
“It is equally important to note that this development will help us deliver passports faster to applicants and drastically cut down on waiting time in our bid to put an end to needless delays that once riddled the passport acquisition process.”
