In order to meet the huge demands of passport applicants in the country, the passport office, Ikoyi, Lagos, has included Saturday in its work days.

Investigations by NAN correspondent on Saturday revealed that more Nigerians troop to Ikoyi office to apply for passports.

This put enormous pressure on the Nigerian Immigration Service (NIS) staffs members.

In order to meet demands, the office therefore included Saturdays in its work days for collection of processed passports, NAN reports.

An applicant, who spoke to NAN under anonymity, commended the centre for striving hard to meet the demands.

She affirmed that the collection process had become easier and better if compared to some years back.

However, she said, “I advise the Federal Government to employ more hands to meet these ever increasing demands.

“More Nigerians troop to this office to seek for passports, although the banks within NIS premises provide seats and conducive environment for applicants.”

Another applicant, Miss Yetunde Maja, an undergraduate, decried the time wasted on queues to collect the passports.

She said, “I was scheduled for Friday to collect my passport; however, I have been here close to three hours.

“Although the queue is moving gradually,” she said.

The Public Relations Officer (PRO) of the passport office, Mrs. Uju Grace, said officers ran shifts to guard against undue backlogs.

The Passport Control Officer (PCO), Ikoyi Centre, Mr. Mannir Yari, said the extension of work days to include the day was part of strategies developed by the office to ensure Nigerians aceessed NIS service delivery speedily.

Yari said, “Ikoyi passport is where you can apply and get your passport in a week, in fact, our office has cleared all backlog of the old passport.

“We are just waiting for applicants to come for collection,” he added. (NAN)

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