Ekwunife Moves Motion Over Delay On Issuance Of International Passport

The Senate has ordered its Senator Kashim Shettima, APC, Borno Central, led Committee on Interior to urgently conduct a comprehensive investigation into the contract award for the production of international passports and report back in response to a motion moved by Senator Uche Ekwunife, who represents the Anambra Central Senatorial District.

The motion was titled, “Delay on issuance, renewal of Nigeria International Passport by the Nigerian Immigration Services.”

In her presentation, Ekwunife said that the Nigerian Immigration Service’s statewide delay in the renewal of Nigeria’s foreign passports were causing unimaginable troubles for Nigerians who needed to leave the country.

She added that many Nigerians were still experiencing difficulties with passport processing, despite the six-week processing time frame for passports given by the Federal Government just over a year ago. According to her, the international passport is issued to Nigerians as an official identity document for the purpose of travel into and out of the country in the exercise of their rights to personal liberty and freedom of movement.

According to Ekwunife, the current processing time for new applicants and those who want their passports renewed at the offices of the Nigerian Immigration Services and Nigeria embassies abroad is three to six months.

The senator stated that it has become extremely challenging for a passport to be processed across the entire Nigeria immigration offices in different states, especially Lagos, Abuja, and PortHarcourt. The senator noted that getting an appointment for biometric capturing at the passport offices now takes between five and eight weeks, while many applicants have to wait four months for their passports to be ready for collection after the biometric exercise.

Ekwunife stated that international students are also finding it very difficult to renew their passports to enable them to travel back to reunite with their families.

Every Nigerian has the right to obtain a passport, according to Senator Gershom Bassey of the PDP-Cross River South, who seconded the motion. However, he expressed concern that the idea of delaying passport issuance, which was quickly turning into a controversy, was not in the best interest of Nigerians.

Meanwhile, Senator Muhammad Bulkachuwa of Bauchi North, the chairman of the Senate Committee on Foreign Affairs, said that he had encountered a similar delay when he sought for a passport renewal and that it took five weeks for him to receive his passport following his biometric procedure.