The Federal Government has assured Nigerians that passports will now be delivered within one week of enrolment, following sweeping reforms in the issuance process.

Minister of Interior, Olubunmi Tunji-Ojo, gave the assurance on Thursday in Abuja during the ministry?s mid-tenure performance retreat.

?Our target is very clear: within one week of enrolment, every Nigerian should have their passport in hand. Not just delivering quickly, but delivering quality passports that reflect our integrity as a nation,? the minister declared.

He noted that the new system was designed to eliminate long delays and extortion that once forced citizens to wait six to seven months or pay as much as N200,000 to fast-track processing.

?The system that we inherited, which had six months of backlog, which we were able to clear in two and a half weeks, that system that was inefficient, Nigerians will apply for a passport, it will take six to seven months to get it, a system that, for a passport, you need to pay N200,000 to N250,000, that system we inherited was inefficient.

?My own daughter had that bad experience. Even when I was chairman of the House Committee on the NDDC, my daughter wanted a passport, but it was a problem. I had to pay hundreds of thousands to be able to get a passport for my daughter, a 12-year-old girl. That era is over,? Tunji-Ojo said.

The minister explained that the centralized personalization centre, the largest in Africa, would ensure faster processing and stricter security.

?With this facility, we can print five times more passports than we currently need. Once you enrol, it doesn?t take us more than 24 hours to vet. Printing capacity is no longer our problem,? he said.

Tunji-Ojo also announced that passport control officers would no longer have the power to approve or delay passport applications, following revelations that some of them were at the centre of corruption and inefficiency in the system.

He said the reform was aimed at curbing racketeering, eliminating delays, and restoring integrity to Nigeria?s travel documents.

?Some PCOs had so much power that they could decide not to approve or not to print a passport until they were settled. That abuse of power ends now,? Tunji-Ojo said.

According to him, centralizing the approval process would ensure that passport applicants were no longer at the mercy of individual officers.

He added that the reforms would also safeguard the integrity of Nigeria?s passport.

?We realized that the best way to cut corruption is to remove human contact to the barest minimum. Passport approval will no longer rest with PCOs. My responsibility is not for them to like me ? it is to deliver efficiency. Let Nigerians be happy.

?My responsibility is not just to make passports available, but to ensure that anybody carrying it is a Nigerian. If you are not a Nigerian, you cannot carry it. It?s about our national integrity,? he declared.

He cited past cases where foreigners bought Nigerian passports illegally, stressing that new vetting and approval processes would restore integrity to the system.

?In one incident, a Ugandan woman carrying a Nigerian passport was arrested at Lagos airport after paying $1,000 to procure it. That cannot continue. Our passport must remain a true symbol of Nigerian identity,? he added. (Channels TV)

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