By JOHN NWOKOCHA, Abuja

Amidst bulk passing over which agency of the federal government is responsible for the plights of international passport applicants the National Identity Management Commission (NIMC) has tasked the Nigerian Immigration Services (NIS) to utilize its various mobile web service, among other applications to mitigate the challenges being encountered by the applicants.

The NIS last week attributed the delay in issuance of the Nigerian International passports to challenges posed by NIMC in obtaining NIN for verification. NIS said its inability to meet the six weeks target for issuance of fresh passport or three weeks for re-issuance was due to NIN verification bottlenecks.

The Deputy Controller of Immigration, Abolupe Bewaji had reportedly blamed NIMC for the agonies of passport applicants, when some of the applicants accused NIS of hoarding the booklets deliberately making it scarce. The deputy controller had said: “applicants always mistakenly think Immigration issues NIN and usually lump the blames of delays experienced on the NIN on the Service.”

It was gathered that the blame game have compounded applicants’ challenges in procuring passports.

However, NIMC said in statement on Monday: “It behooves on NIS to leverage these channels and the jointly agreed offline method for handling NIN verification requests for passport applicants”.

It said it has launched improved NIN slip with QR Code and Mobile ID app over the past one year, to ensure that alternative channels for identity verification are provided.

The commission explains that the new channels put personal identity back in the hands of the ID holder and allows for easier and quick verification by simply scanning the barcode.

It urges all agencies of government and even the private sector to utilize the channels to verify the identities of their customers.

Kayode Adegoke, head, corporate communication of NIMC, in the statement made reference to recent media reports on difficulties being faced by passport applicants, and charged NIS, saying: “The recent report of purported inability of Nigerian Immigration Services (NIS) to verify NINs of passport applicants has shown these alternative verification channels are being utilizedto serve their teeming customers”.

NIMC reiterates that the improved NIS slip and mobile ID app are credible and reliable channels to carry out NIN verification services. The commission assures that with focus on digital economy policy of the federal government, it will continue to offer innovative solutions for digital ID usage and seamless services to support identification for development.