By Jemimah Wellington, JKNewsMedia Correspondent
PASSPORTS WILL soon be issued within seven days of application filing, the Federal Government announced on Thursday, following upgrades at the Nigeria Immigration Service.
Minister of Interior, Olubunmi Tunji-Ojo, gave the assurance after inspecting the newly completed Data Personalisation Centre at the NIS headquarters in Abuja.
He described the development as a game-changer in the nation’s passport production system, noting that the upgraded facility will drastically reduce response time and enable passports to be printed within 24 hours and delivered within a week.
According to the Minister, the new facility marks the first time since the establishment of the Immigration Service in 1963 that Nigeria will operate a centralised passport personalisation centre comparable to international standards.
He listed the United States, United Kingdom, France, Russia, India, and Bangladesh as examples of countries with similar systems.
Tunji-Ojo disclosed that the old machines could only process between 250 and 300 passports per machine daily, but the new system now produces about 1,000 passports per hour.
He said the facility gives the Immigration Service the capacity to deliver between 4,500 and 5,000 passports during a normal workday.
“This means applicants whose requests are approved can now expect their passports to be printed within 24 hours,” he said.
The Minister emphasised that the new system replaces the previous arrangement where passports were personalised across 96 centres in Nigeria and abroad.
He said the decentralised model was vulnerable and inefficient, often leading to long delays and backlogs.
He recalled that the government inherited a backlog of more than 200,000 passport applications.
According to him, the introduction of the new centralised system ensures such challenges are eliminated as automation reduces human intervention and speeds up the process.
“This project ensures that the era of backlogs is over. Officers no longer have to work around the clock to clear piles of applications.
The system is now seamless, fast, and accountable,” he stated.
Tunji-Ojo stressed that the government is committed to ensuring Nigerians experience a more transparent and efficient passport issuance process.
He even said the upgraded system will not only improve service delivery but also strengthen accountability in the Immigration Service.
