The Minister of Interior, Rauf Aregbesola, on Saturday, said the Nigeria Immigration Service was working to ensure all outstanding passport applications were issued by May 31.
Aregbesola disclosed this during a virtual inaugural quarterly lecture series of the Nigerians in Diaspora Commission. The event tagged, ‘Mobilising Nigerians in the Diaspora for National Development’ was attended by Nigerians from across the world.
He also said that passports would be issued within six weeks beginning from June 1, explaining that the COVID-19 pandemic affected the issuance of passports in the country.
Aregbesola who said that affected passport issuance, informed that the government had launched the electronic temporary passport to ease the burden on Nigerians.
“The Nigeria Immigration Service also had their fair share of the pandemic which affected passport issuance.
“We have launched an electronic temporary passport to ease the burden of Nigerians.
“By May 31, all outstanding passport applications will be cleared. We are also looking at domesticating passport printing to avoid a shortage of booklets for renewal and new passport collection.
“Also, from June 1, the collection of passports will take six weeks and this will allow us to carry out due diligence,” he said.
