SCARCITY OF INTERNATIONAL PASSPORT AND RAUF AREGBESOLA

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Across the globe, emerging technologies and innovation continue to affect day-to-day activities, from the way people communicate to the way organisations carry out their activities. With this trend, it’s safe to project that digital technology will further transform the working environment of Nigeria Immigration Service in the next ten years.

To address the problem of scarcity of international passport, Rauf Aregbesola, Minister of Interior has commenced decentralisation of international passports in the 774 local government areas.The process started with inauguration of Passports Express Centre at Maitama District, Abuja. International passports, according to the Minister of Interior Rauf Aregbesola, will now be available within 24 hours nationwide under the new Maitama Passport Express Centre (MPEC).

Aregbesola said: “MPEC is in response to the yearnings of the general public for the Ministry of Interior and the Nigeria Immigration Service to devise additional ways that the Passport Issuance process can be less stressful and more efficient. “It is the future. The goal is to have a facility like this in every local government in the country.

“Every Nigerian has the right to a Nigerian passport and it is our responsibility to put it in the hands of anyone desirous of it within the shortest possible time, without stress. “The passport should be available in maximum of 72 hours of a successful application. Where there are issues, the applicant must be notified within 48 hours.”

According to him, commencement of the operations of the facility would not only offer Nigerians services of convenience and pleasure but take away stress noticeable in the conventional passport offices.

Recently, Minister of Interior, Rauf Aregbesola commissioned the Nigeria Immigration Service Passport Express Centre, Maitama Abuja which is established in partnership with the private sector. It is a first of many more to be established and designed to offer specialized services to Nigerians. Every Nigerian has the right to a Nigerian passport and it is our responsibility to put it in the hands of anyone desirous of it within the shortest possible time, without stress. The passport should be available in maximum of 72 hours of a successful application. Where there are issues, the applicant must be notified within 48 hours.

A centre like this is necessary to reduce stress. Secondly, by minimising human contact, it eliminates the prospect of corruption. The Maitama Passport Express Centre which is established in partnership with the private sector. It is a first of many more to be established and designed to offer specialized services to Nigerians.

The centre will offer value added service to all Nigerians, irrespective of their status; socially, politically and economically. This implies that the centre will serve the Passport needs of Nigerians who may be desirous of Premium services. Ladies and gentlemen, may I also state that while this is in line with international best practice, it is also in conformity with the Executive Order 1 on the ease of doing business in Nigeria which was signed into law by PresidentMuhammadu Buhari (GCFR) in 2017. And also to generate employment opportunities for Nigerians.

Earlier in the month of March, President Buhari commissioned the Data Management Centre of the agency. Not long ago, NIS presented the electronic temporary passport for Nigerians abroad that do not have the regular passports but need a one way travel document to return to Nigeria.Then again, last week, the annual report of the agency was presented to the public. For this and more, the NIS deserves commendation.

Rauf Aregbesola commissioned the Nigeria Immigration Service Passport Express Centre, Maitama on this day, 30th March, 2021. The Temporary Passport as the name implies, is a travel document designed for a one-way travel to Nigeria only. It is an electronic document that has all the features of a regular passport, just that it is temporary and valid for one trip and will be retrieved from the user at the entry point. It is a replacement for the hitherto Emergency Travel Certificate (ETC) which was issued to Nigerians in emergency situations where their Passports were not available and had need to travel to Nigeria. The old paper ETC is non-electronic.

This new document is not a replacement for the Nigerian Passport, it will only serve a temporary purpose in the case of loss or misplacement of the Nigerian Passport by a Nigerian abroad. The Temporary Passport is ICAO compliant and is valid for only 30 days.

It is further consolidation of the digitization efforts of the operations of NIS to further strengthen its collaboration with other security agencies for effective and efficient border security of the country. In the light of the present security challenges faced by the country, the Temporary Passport will no doubt help to checkmate the excess of criminal elements that takes advantage of the ETC to infiltrate the country.

To permanently curb the complaints of difficulty in obtaining Passports from the NIS, Aregbesola has came op with several innovations that all pending passports will be Issued on or before May 31st, 2021 and starting from June 1, 2021, a new regime will begin.

It has become imperative that we review our operations and rejig our system, in order to be able to offer excellent services to our clients. We need to review a system from time to time to see if it helps best to serve and realise the objectives.

One, Aregbesola has declared a zero-tolerance stance to all forms of touting. No applicant will be made to pay any illegitimate fees. We are going to embed security operatives – seen and unseen – in all our passport offices. They will wear body cameras.

They will detect and report any form of solicitations, inflation, improper communications, extortion, diversion, hoarding and other corrupt practices. Those caught will be dealt with according to the law.

An ombudsman will also be created for members of the public to receive complaints and reports on officers trying to deviate from prescribed guidelines and subversion of the process.

The goal is to have one in each local government area, university campuses, institutions of higher learning and other relevant public places.

Three, a timeline for the collection of passport will be fixed for every application. This will be six weeks. This is to allow for enough time to investigate, verify and validate personal information supplied by the applicants. What we are driving at is the peace of mind that comes from assurance of certainty. If there are circumstances that will make the date to change, it will be communicated to the applicant one week before the collection date.

Fourth, applicants will have no basis for further communication with officers, other than to complete their application process and leave the venue. The date for the collection of their passports or any challenge to the application, will be communicated to them. The technology for the efficient running of this system has been acquired and will be deployed.

Fifth, NIS will publish on its website the list of the backlog of passports that are ready which are yet to be collected by the owners. They will be required to go to the state commands to collect them.

There were several challenges in the past. These include, shortage of booklets, touting, racketeering, inflating the cost, passports being issued to ineligible persons and so on.

Then there are Covid-19 related challenges such as the suspension of public interface by our missions abroad as a result of the directive of the host government. Those affected have mine and the Federal Government’s deepest sympathy. But there is nothing we can do about this now other than to pray that the pandemic will go away so that we all can resume normal life. The pandemic has been very disruptive of social, economic and nearly every aspects of life. What the government has been doing is to manage the fallout and make the impact to be minimal.

Therefore, where we can do things electronically or by post, we shall continue to explore these. But other person-to-person necessities like data capture are beyond our control. I crave the understanding of Nigerians on this.

Without doubt, these challenges have put the ministry and Nigeria Immigration Service under the spotlight. Make no mistake. Hundreds of thousands of people have obtained their passports and enjoyed other services we render seamlessly and we continue to receive commendation reports from within and abroad. But it is expected that your good works will be downplayed, while your mistakes and faults will be highlighted and celebrated. For this reason, there should be no room for mistakes or sloppiness.

It has become imperative therefore to review our operations and rejig our system, in order to be able to offer excellent services to our clients. No system is permanent or perfect, only the objectives are. We need to review a system from time to time to see if it helps best to serve and realise the objectives. This understanding is very important to all system operators so we don’t develop a fixed system rigidity.

Aregbesola is turning round the entire passport application process in a way that is easy, seamless, transparent and will accord human dignity to applicants and fulfil citizenship integrity.

Therefore, I am declaring a zero-tolerance stance to all forms of touting. No applicant will be made to pay any illegitimate fees. We are going to embed security operatives – seen and unseen – in all our passport offices. They will wear body cameras. They will detect and report any form of solicitations, inflation, improper communications, extortion, diversion, hoarding and other corrupt practices. Those caught will be dealt with according to the law. An ombudsman will also be created for members of the public to receive complaints and reports on officers trying to deviate from prescribed guidelines and subversion of the process.

Two, Aregbesola has created special centres for expedited services. These special centres will run on public-private partnership basis. This has already taken off in Abuja and 10 more will be opened in coming weeks as more of such centres will be opened all over the country. Our goal is to have one in each local government area, university campuses, institutions of higher learning and other relevant public places.

Fifth, we are publishing on our website the list of the backlog of passports that are ready which are yet to be collected by the owners. They will be required to go to the state commands to collect them.

Inwalome Doald writes from buja