The House of Representatives has given the Nigerian Immigration Service 72 hours to issue international passports to “thousands of Nigerians”, who applied, paid for the document, but are yet to be issued their passport.
The House also called for a review of the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between the Federal Ministry of Interior, the NIS, the Nigerian Security Printing and Minting Company Plc, and IRIS Smart Technologies Ltd, “with a view to boosting capacity and development of more passport booklet production lines, ensuring better service delivery and that Nigerians get their international passports within 24 hours.”
The directives were contained in a resolution the House passed at its plenary in Abuja on Thursday.
The session, which was presided over by the Speaker, Rep. Femi Gbajabiamila, mandated the House Committees on Interior and Foreign Affairs to ensure compliance and report back within four (4) weeks for further legislative action.
The resolution was passed following a motion moved by Rep. Ugonna Ozurigbo, seeking an end to the scarcity of international passport booklets at Nigerian immigration offices both at home and in the Diaspora.
Leading the debate on the motion, the lawmaker recalled the untold hardship Nigerians were subjected to while applying for a passport.
He noted that the travel document, which ordinarily should not take 48 hours to be issued to applicants, was usually delayed for days.
Ozurigbo told the House that as a result of the delay, many intending travellers either lost the opportunity or the purpose of the trip would have been defeated by the time the booklet was issued eventually.
According to him, the sick, who are seeking to travel for urgent medical attention, are often the most affected by the scarcity of booklets and the delay at the immigration offices.
The motion reads partly, “The House is aware of the persistent scarcity of the passport booklets at most Nigeria Immigration Service offices and some of the nation’s foreign embassies;
“Concerned that most Nigerians who have applied for International Passports and fulfilled all the requirements are constrained to wait endlessly for their International Passports, which ordinarily takes less than 48 hours to be issued, a situation that is causing untold hardship on Nigerians with urgent needs to travel out of the country;
“Also notes that Nigerians who are on medical referrals outside the country are developing needless health complications while waiting for their Passports to be issued while those for urgent business trips, conferences, etc. have missed rewarding business opportunities due to the unavailability of passport booklets to enable them to travel;
“Also concerned that Nigerians in the Diaspora are experiencing undue delays due to the scarcity and the situation is fast breeding a class of Passport racketeers who extort innocent citizens with the promise to assist them to secure International Passports on time;
“Cognisant that access to International Passport is one of the rights enjoyed by citizens all over the world, and in other countries, International Passports are obtained with ease as they are issued immediately upon application and therefore Nigerians should not be made to suffer before their rights are given to them.”