Passport Automation Suffers Setback Over Minister’s ‘Conditions’

The newly upgraded automated passport application process by the Interior Minister, Olubunmi Tunji-Ojo has caused a major setback to the entire passport application process for applicants.

According to an investigation conducted by Thisday, Nigerians are currently stranded in passport issuing offices across the country owing to their inability to meet the stringent rules and conditions laid down by the new Minister..

Recall that the Interior Minister unveiled the latest stage of the automated passport application process recently in Abuja, assuring the public that the idea would enhance national security and data protection.

Tunji-Ojo also emphasised that the new process will be convenient, done with a reduced processing time, and an overall seamless experience.

While reverse seems to be the case with Nigerians lamenting the new application process, officials of the Nigeria Immigration Service are also of the opinion that rather than expediting passport acquisition for the people, there are more obstacles to getting the citizenship integrity document.

Some of the conditions revealed by the officials included; provision of letter of identification from the local government by applicants who are renewing their passport, a condition hitherto given to applicants who are obtaining a passport for the first time.

They lamented that the conditions have further complicated the process as many Nigerians who returned from overseas to Lagos and Abuja could not go to their local government areas to obtain letters of identification within the limited time they have.

The new policy also insists that minors should obtain a letter of identification as well as the elderly who in the past were given waivers, as minors were identified by their parents whose data page of their passports were attached to the minor’s application.

It was further revealed that the fee for a five-year passport has been increased by N10, 000, from N25, 000 to N35, 000, which has not been made public but applicants are asked to add the amount while paying for the passport.

Applicants are also asked to provide passport photographs with American standard specification of size and white background, but Immigration officials said NIS does not use passports provided by applicants in the passport, but are put in the file of the applicant while the passport of the applicant is captured by the system, which is the passport that appears on the data page of the passport, which means that the request on passport specification was not necessary.

Also, instead of reducing processing time, the new conditions are causing delays and because many applicants are not meeting the new conditions, few applicants are qualified to be processed.

An Immigration official at the Ikoyi passport office who spoke on condition of anonimity disclosed that, “The delay we are having is that many applicants are not meeting the new conditions introduced by the Ministry of Interior. How can you tell a minor to go and get a letter of identification from his local government of origin. Our passport before now has met the International Civil Aviation Organsiation (ICAO) standard. In 2007, we were the third country to meet the ICAO standard after Germany and Britain and our passport was studied by others because of its security features,” the official said.

The source also disclosed, “Nothing is working at the passport offices all over the federation. Date of birth and letter of identification are not required for passport renewal, but they have been made compulsory. So, it is difficult for people to meet that requirement, especially thousands of Nigerians who returned from overseas. We didn’t know about the increase in the price of the five-year passport till now and the media hype of the new changes in the process of obtaining the passport was to ostensibly hide the fact that N10,000 was added to the cost of five-year passport.”

Cost of passports currently is as follows: the five-year passport is now N35, 000 plus bank charges of N2, 000, totaling N37, 000 and the 10-year passport is N70, 000 plus N2000 bank charges, totaling N72, 000.

Another official who corroborated the first source noted that there is no time frame for applicants to obtain their passports because it has become very difficult for many applicants to meet the new requirements.

“Securing your passport is now rigorous because of unnecessary documentation requirement. It is difficult for minors and old people to meet the new requirements. These are not security risk. That was why they were exempted. How can you tell someone born in 1930s to bring date of birth certificate and an infant to get letter from its local government of origin? Before now senior citizens were given waivers. Currently passport processing is not going on because the system uploading and processing them is rejecting the data pages which have not met the new stringent conditions.

“We wonder why Nigerians were not notified that the price of passport has increased. I can tell you that even the Comptroller of Immigration did not know about the increase,” the official at the Ikoyi passport office said.

When contacted, the spokesman of the Nigeria Immigration Service, Mr. Tony Akuneme, said he cannot not speak on the matter because it has to do with policy and therefore very sensitive, adding that the only persons that could speak on it are the Minister of Interior and the Comptroller General of Immigration.

Also the Special Adviser to the Minister of Interior, Alao Babatunde, did not answer his calls or reply to the question sent to him on his WhatsApp.

OSUN DEFENDER had reported that the automation process that the new minister paraded as new was the initiative of previous administrations which commenced in 2016. Many Nigerians who reacted to the development said Tunji-Ojo only built on the blueprint that was operational under successive administrations including that of the immediate-past Minister, Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola.