Minister of Interior, Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola, yesterday said the Nigerian Immigration Service is set to launch a passport home delivery service in fulfilment of the federal government’s promise to ensure effective service delivery to Nigerians.
He spoke while unveiling a Front Desk office for the immigration service passport office in Auchi, Edo State.
Aregbesola who reiterated government’s commitment to provide the nation’s passport for anyone desirous of it within a reasonable time, promised to ensure that it is not just at an affordable price but without any stress.
The minister who further revealed that they were at the final stage of concluding negotiations with NIPOST to begin using its speed mail service to deliver passports after production, expressed the optimism on the success of the process.
Describing the launch of the new Passport Front Desk Office as a significant one, the minister said the Nigerian passport is proof of existence, especially for those outside the country as the inability to produce it on demand may bring untoward consequences.
He said, “Our current work schedule is that a fresh application would take six weeks after biometric data registration and three weeks for renewal. This is reasonable, competitive and in line with the global best practices.
“The challenge however is the waiting period at the point of application and data registration. All applicants will be put on a queue, depending on the centre of their choice, to determine the registration date. Regrettably, it might take two months in some highly competitive centres where application is very high. We have no control over this,” he said.
He added that the federal government was intentional about opening more front desk offices in order to increase the registration centres and reduce the waiting period before biometric data capture.
“We project that by the time we open more front offices like this, the waiting period will not be more than three days. Indeed, the more front offices we have, the less the waiting period. Our long-term plan will be to involve private operators who will provide the lounge for a fee, but the equipment and personnel will be provided by the Nigerian Immigration Service (NIS)”, he added.
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