According to the Federal Government, the full digitalization of Nigerian passport operations will be finished by December of this year.
Why this is happening
Nigerians have been complaining about the interminable delays in obtaining Nigerian passports both within and outside the nation. As revealed by Rauf Aregbesola, Minister of Interior, the completion of the full digitization project would eliminate any communication between passport applicants and immigration officers, as well as the system’s inherent corruption.
According to Aregbesola, the project is one of President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration’s top priorities.
What he said
“We’re working on it, and by December, we’ll be done with manual passport processing,” he said. We still have certain manual parts because files are still opened manually.” By December, especially in the busiest passport processing locations, there will be no manual passport processing; everything will be digitized.”
The minister stated that there is no shortage of passport booklets in the country and urged applicants to begin the processing of their passports at least six months before their planned departure date.
Aregbesola also asked passport applicants to double-check their names and other information against the National Identity database.
What you should know
The Federal Government announced the launch of an updated e-passport in November 2021, claiming that it will streamline the passport application process for Nigerians at home and in the Diaspora.
The upgraded e-Passport was a significant enhancement over the Biometric Passport technology that Nigeria introduced in 2007.
The steps of obtaining a Nigerian passport have been fraught with difficulties, ranging from a lack of booklets to louting, with an economy of corruption created around it.