The Nigerian Immigration Service (NIS), Lagos State Command, on Wednesday launched “anti-corruption campaign” to ensure transparency and seamlessness in the process of getting international passports.
Speaking at the launch at the NIS Lagos State Command office in Ikoyi, the Comptroller of Immigration, Lagos Command, Ekpedeme King, said the launch was to reawaken the war against corruption and to ensure transparency in the process of getting passport.
According to him, getting a passport does not need anyone to come to the passport office with cash.
He said: “We have made the process easy to be done electronically. The forms can be gotten online and filled before approaching the passport office. You should have made payment and don’t need to come with cash, because the process is now cashless in all our facilities in the immigration.”
He urged those who want to get passport to follow the online procedures, noting that once this is done, it will make it easier for the officers to deliver on the seamless facilities expected from them.
“Following the online process is transparent; you will be given a date for an interview when you complete the forms online which is programmed. It is done in a way to help you and to help us give you the seamless facility you wanted. If all Nigerians are to honour the date, it will be easy for us because it is programmed.
“I want Nigerians to know that we have launched the anti-corruption and transparency war in the NIS. We have started from the headquarters to the state command and we want to assure Nigerians that we are going to listen to complains and petitions and we want to improve on that transparency so that it will impact not just the immigration service but other government agencies and the country at large,” King said.
He explained that the campaign was first launched at the service’s headquarters in Abuja on the July 11, by the Comptroller General Mohammad Babandede.
“The idea is to reawaken the war against corruption and the command will have to continue with the campaign. For Lagos State Command, we want to continue to improve on our ratings when it comes to corruption and we believe that if we do this, other agencies will do the same. We will be engaging with the public more to make them understand the need to use the electronic format. We are working with both the Independent Corrupt Practises Commission (ICPC) and Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC),” he said.