TheCable

The federal government through the Nigeria Immigration Service (NIS) has extended the suspension of applications for passport booklets by one week.

The NIS said in a statement on Tuesday that the applications, which was scheduled to resume on June 1, will now commence on June 8.

The service had, on May 18, suspended fresh requests for booklets to enable passport issuing centres to clear existing backlog of applications by May 31.

Amos Okpu, its spokesman, said in the statement that the service is battling congestion at its issuing centres because of the huge number of applicants turning up to collect their passport booklet.

“This situation will not allow the Service to accommodate new applications especially considering our desire to ensure that people who come to our offices comply with all the COVID-19 protocols,” he said.

“Consequent upon the above, the Minister of Interior, Rauf Aregbesola, has extended the commencement of the new passport regime earlier scheduled for June 1, 2021 by one week till June 8, 2021.

“The Comptroller General of Immigration assures all of full commitment to improved service delivery to all passport applicants and others.”

“Passport Control Officers have been directed to continue to send out short message notifications for collection to all applicants who indicated functional contact details/numbers in their applications while efforts have been intensified to clear up the remaining applications in some Centres.”

The initial suspension was announced following the difficulty many Nigerians were facing in getting their requested booklets.

TheCable had reported that the contractors in charge of the passport booklets were not able to source for forex from official sources and had to resort to the parallel market.