The Federal Government has opened a new passport office in the Alimosho area of Lagos State.

Interior Minister Rauf Aregbesola during the launching on Monday, explained that it is part of a move to address the “shortage gap” in passport processing.

“Today, I commissioned a new Passport Front Office of the @nigimmigration in Alimosho, Lagos State. Lagos needs at least 15 front offices to ease the pressure in Ikoyi, Festac, and Alausa. Earlier, I had commissioned the Lagos Command HQ of the Service at Alagbon Close, Ikoyi Lagos,” he tweeted on his official handle.

“We are committed to expanding our Passport Issuance operations to bridge the shortage gap we face usually in urban centres like Lagos. It is this need that gave birth to the Alimosho Front Office to ease the ever-increasing pressure on the three existing Passport Offices.

“Applications have been increasing every year at an unprecedented rate, due to the tendency of many Nigerians wanting to travel outside the country & those who want to use it as means of identification.

Then there is ‘panic buying’ effect from those who wanted to obtain the passport because they heard some people (who probably went through touts) had difficulty obtaining theirs. But we have increased our capacity. Last year (2022), we produced 1.9 million passports, against the 1 million produced in 2021. This is about an 80% increase and it is unprecedented.”

The former Osun State governor also commissioned the Lagos Command HQ of the Service in Ikoyi.

“Since my appointment as Minister, we have commissioned 17 new Command structures across the country for the NIS, with the Lagos Command being the 18th,” the minister added.

"The resolve of President Muhammad Buhari’s Administration to ensure that our borders are further secured has led to the creation of new and upgrading of Border Control Formations to full-fledged Commands,” he said. (Channels TV)

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