FG digitalizes payment for Nigerian Passports
The federal government
of Nigeria has announced that it has digitized the payments for the Nigerian
passports and has therefore advised Nigerians to avoid patronizing touts and unscrupulous
officials when applying for the documents.
This information was revealed by the minister
for interior Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola when he was in Ibadan the Oyo state capital
for the rollout of the Enhanced
e-passport with polycarbonate Data page and other security features on Monday,
December 20, 2021.
“Part of the reforms is the migration of passport applications and
payments to digital platforms. But we regret to observe that applicants still
patronize touts and unscrupulous officials in the hope to beat the system and
get expedited services.
When they were disappointed, they come to report to us. Of course,
we have zero tolerance for corruption and subversion of due process. We,
therefore, take seriously any such report and invoke the necessary disciplinary
measures.
But I will
implore applicants to stop patronizing touts and our officials directly. Follow
the process we put in place. Apply for passports and pay online. The only
engagement with our staff is the enrolment of your biometrics. Patronizing
touts and passport office officials don’t always end well, but rather serves to
defeat our purpose of eliminating corruption and infusing integrity to the
passport administration process” the minister stated
While speaking on the new application process,
the interior minister also noted that a new timeline has been set for fresh
passport application and reissue.
“Our template stipulates a maximum of six weeks for obtaining new
passports and a maximum of three weeks for renewal. We work within this
schedule to enable us to investigate any claims made by applicants and verify
them, for the final document we issue them to have integrity. If there are
challenges, wait, eventually, you will get your passport before your due date
of travel, if you apply early enough. You will still have long enough time to
apply for a visa and other travel documents.
“Nowhere in the world is passport administration done on a wait-and-get
basis except in extreme emergencies. The only wait-and-get passport is passport
photograph,” the minister stated. On the new enhanced passport being rolled out
in Ibadan, the Oyo State Capital, the minister noted that the passport is an
improved document with high-security features.
“The Enhanced e-Passport is a great improvement on the Biometric
Passport technology which Nigeria adopted in 2007 as a deliberate step towards
curbing forgery, impersonation and other forms of travel document fraud
associated with the old Machine-Readable Passport regime.
“It is the
latest technology in passport making anywhere in the world and only a few
countries have it. It is the most secure identity document ever produced. We
are proud to make it available to Nigerians,” he added
