Editor/
The Minister of Interior, Rauf Aregbesola, has warned citizens looking for speedy, unreasonable means to obtain the Nigeria International passport to desist from such act or risk falling into the hands of fraudulent officials.
Aregbesola, who gave the warning while inaugurating a new passport office in Oyo, Oyo State, yesterday, advised that intending travellers only need to plan their journey ahead of time to save themselves from avoidable delay.
He explained that the rationale behind locating another passport office in Oyo State is that the Nigerian Government intends to give citizens seamless access to the travel document, since the only office in the state, located in Ibadan, could no longer meet the demands of applicants across the thirty-three Local Government Areas of the state.
Emphasising the need for more passport offices to meet the ever growing demands for the document, the minister expressed the readiness of the Government to go into private partnership.
Aregbesola disclosed that the Nigeria Immigration Service was also poised to clear the backlog of passport applications which was partly caused by the Covid-19 pandemic.
The minister added that NIS was improving its services, noting that only a few countries could boast of the type of Nigeria passport, which he said “is one of the best in the world.” However, he also highlighted the challenges facing the immigration service, including a dearth of offices to enroll applicants for data capturing.
Aregbesola said the challenges were gradually being tackled, especially with the construction of more passports front offices.
According to him, the inauguration of the new office in Oyo Town would reduce congestion in the Ibadan centre, with about 5,000 applicants waiting for data capturing in Ibadan to be offloaded to the new centre in Oyo, to reduce the challenge of waiting period of data capturing by applicants.
The minister said that getting an international passport was the right of all Nigerians in Nigeria and those outside the country, assuring them that the service would not relent in its mandate of providing passports to all Nigerians.
The Chairman, Oyo Metropolitan Development Association, Archbishop (Prince) Ayo Ladigbolu, promised that the community would continue to see the project as its own by giving it necessary support.
Ladigbolu, who traced the history of the passport office to year 2016, recalled the roles played by the late Alaafin of Oyo, Oba Lamidi Adeyemi, to make the project a reality.
He said this testified to the relevance of traditional rulers in the socioeconomic development at the grassroots.
While thanking the minister and the Federal Government for the project, he assured the government of the support and cooperation of the people of the town to officials of NIS.
He added that the centre would reduce the stress experienced by people in obtaining passports and boost the economy of the town.
The Minister was welcomed to Oyo Town by the quarter guard of the Nigeria Immigration Service and was also received by top officials of sister agencies, as well as indigenes and eminent personalities in the town.
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