Ikoyi Passport Office Working Round The Clock To Clear Backlog

 The Ikoyi  Office  of the Nigeria Immigration Service(NIS) in Lagos, says that it  has extended its working days to include Saturdays and Sundays to meet the demands of its applicants.

Mr  Ibrahim Liman, the Passport Control Officer (PCO),  stated this in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Sunday in Lagos.

Liman, a Deputy Controller of Immigration (DCI), added that the office also had issued no less than 15,000 passports to qualified applicants since his assumption of office  in June 2021

The official said these while  reacting to a series of complaints regarding  passport racketeering and cases of uncleared backlogs of passports among others.

He said that his office  would fishout and sanctioned offenders appropriately.

According to him,  the office has extended its operational  days  to include Saturdays  and Sundays in order  to meet the demands of thousands of applicants who trooped in , into the office to obtain  the documents

He urged Nigerians to see beyond the fact that the passport is just a travelling document ,saying it should be seen as a security document that would help them in many ways.

He stressed that his office was fully  committed to efficient service delivery and it would not relent in justifying its operational mandate.

Liman also  warned those who were always indulging in passport racketeering to desist from the act or face severe  consequences.

The PCO emphasised that  his  department  had been working unrelentingly to meet the demands of applicants and adhering  to due process required in obtaining it.

He explained  that some challenges might hinder the timely release  of some international passports to prospective applicants.

He said that this would be  due to the need for discreet investigation to be conducted by the department on  such  applicants to determine their elligibility.

Liman , however, stressed that NIS would not hesitate to discipline anyone found to be involved in  defrauding or shortchanging any  applicants found to be engaging  either  in sharp practices or any illicit acts capable of spoiling  the name of the department.

He said that  the Nigeria Immigration Service would continue to remain one of the best passport issuers globally.

” The service  has recently introduced additional sophiscticated measures  toward  checking  attitudes  inimical to the conduct of its official duties, especially, issues to do with corruption” he added.

He appealed to applicants to always endeavour to visit the NIS Servicom department in all passport offices to make enquiries.

“NIS has  reiterated that all qualified prospective seekers of the travel document should apply online,” he added.

He lamented that some applicants  used to be  impatient and  were always in a hurry to push their ways to get the document in few hours and finally get things messed up.

“Can this be done in advanced countries?

“I specially appeal to prospective applicants to visit : immigration.gov.ng, which serves as the service website to apply and make payments for their passports” he added.