The Minister of Interior, Rauf Aregbesola, has stated why passport booklets are scarce in the country. According to the minister, a major reason for the scarcity of passport booklets is due to the ‘human factor’ in passport offices.

He, therefore, challenged the Nigerian Immigration Service (NIS) to beam its searchlight on erring officers bent on exploiting passport and visa applications processing to feather their nest.

The Minister gave the pledge during a Quarterly Review Meeting with some consultants- Special Service Providers — engaged by his ministry on Saturday at the National Headquarters of NIS Abuja.

He further vowed to sanitise the processing of visas, passports, marriages and citizenship applications in the country.

A statement by the Deputy Director of Press at the interior ministry, Afonja Ajibola, said Aregbesola frowned at what he described as an “unacceptable passport procedure racketeering” being perpetrated with the connivance of unscrupulous officials.

He read the riot act to those who indulge in the embarrassing act to desist or be prepared to face dire consequences.

While commending the service providers for being worthy partners, he urged them to strictly adhere to agreements governing the Public Private Partnership (PPP) pact with the Ministry.

In the course of the Quarterly Review Meeting, all engaged service providers made presentations on their services with professionalism, technological deployment, staff attitude, response time and other indicators as key indicators.

The consulting service providers are Euphoria Press Limited, Messrs IRRIS SMART TECHNOLOGY LTD, Thebes Global Resources Ltd, Greater Washington Express and Dataware Solutions. (Daily Trust)