Why 32,462 Nigerians Applied For Int’l Passports In 14 Days
Afimag.com –
Due to the harsh economy, insecurity and corruption in the country, the desire to vacate Nigeria reached its peak in January 2024 as 32,462 Nigerians have requested for international passports.
The applicants, including full families, young and old, have also uploaded their documents on the Nigeria Immigration Service site between January 08 and 21, 2024.
The desire to leave Nigeria is geared towards government’s insensitivity to address the immediate needs of the citizens with reference to killings and kidnappings which ermassed the center stage of APC government.
15,113 out of the 32,462 applications have gained approval for biometric capture and production.
According to the Comptroller-General of Immigration Service, Caroline Adepoju, 11,505 were awaiting approval, while 3,406 who made payment were yet to book appointments.
Adepoju said 1,438 applications did not scale through.
Hear her: “50 per cent of the total applications have been successfully approved for biometric capture, production and issuance, 35 per cent awaits approval, 11 per cent made payments but yet to book appointments and only four per cent of total applications were queried.
“When queries are successfully answered, the applications return to the queue and are subsequently approved for biometric acquisition, production and issuance.”
Adepoju added that the introduction of the automation of passport applications was not new, clarified that further: “The major difference now is that supporting documents are now uploaded online. It is a research-based decision and we have been recording successes.
“As of this morning (yesterday), we have only recorded four per cent rejection of uploaded documents which may be due to errors on the side of the applicant. But our help desk is operational 24/7.
“The Nigeria Immigration Service, our technical partners, service providers and other stakeholders worked together with the Minister of Interior, Dr Olubunmi Tunji-Ojo, to come up with this reform on the automation of passport process which has been in place since the inception of the issuance of enhanced e-passport in 2020,” she said.