JUST IN: Nigerians to process and obtain passports in their homes

Soon, Nigerians will be able to apply for and obtain Nigerian passports from the convenience of their homes, doing away with the need to physically show up at a passport processing facility.

However, in order to process and obtain contactless passports, Nigerians must be 18 years of age or older and be applying for the re-issuance of an expired passport. New applicants must appear in person and register their biometrics at a passport processing center.

Minister of Interior, Tunji-Ojo

The new plan was unveiled by Interior Minister Dr. Olubunmi Tunji-Ojo on Friday in Abuja during a stakeholders’ event where the contactless passport processing App was unveiled.

Saturday Vanguard understands that the contactless passport processing project, which is meant to eliminate human contact as much as possible, is being jointly handled by two Nigerian firms-Irish Smart Technology and New World, which have been test-running the process for the past nine months.

The minister explained that the new technology was adopted to reduce the burden usually encountered by Nigerians at home and abroad in their quest to obtain a Nigerian passport and save them from being exploited by middlemen, who create artificial hurdles to fleece them.

Tunji-Ojo disclosed that the App had been designed to take care of every requirement for the issuance of Nigerian passport and make it seamless for applicants to obtain the travelling document with record time.
The minister announced that with effect from April next year, passport production will be centralized in Nigeria as no immigration attaché in any foreign mission would be allowed to approve visa issuance.

The minister also disclosed that the President has approved the retention of 50 per cent of NIS internally generated revenue to be able to handle most of its operations and reduce the delay in passport processing and other vital services being rendered by the agency to Nigerians at home and abroad.

He also said that no fewer than 32 forward operational bases are being built across the country to enhance the operations of the NIS and strengthen national security.

The Comptroller-General of the NIS, Mrs Kemi Nandep, told the stakeholders that the move for contactless passport issuance was to reduce the inconvenience associated with physical processing and to strengthen the security of the Nigerian passport in line with international best practices.