The Minister of Interior, Olubunmi Tunji-Ojo, says the Nigeria Immigration Service (NIS) can now produce between 4,000 and 5,000 passports in just five hours.
Tunji-Ojo disclosed this on Thursday after inspecting the newly built Centralised Passport Personalisation Centre at the NIS Headquarters in Abuja.
“With these strategic infrastructural investments, which did not cost the government a kobo, the NIS can now personalise over 1,000 passports in one hour,” the minister said.
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He explained that before the development, the service could only process an average of 250 to 300 passports per day. “But today, under five working hours, the service can deliver about 4,500 to 5,000 passports,” he added.
The minister described the initiative as a “major milestone,” noting that it marks the end of passport production at multiple centres across the world.
“As a major milestone, for the first time in 62 years of the Nigeria Immigration Service, this centralisation puts an end to the production of our passports at multiple centres across the world,” he said.
Tunji-Ojo was accompanied during the inspection by the Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Interior, Dr Magdalene Ajani, and the Comptroller-General of Immigration, Kemi Nanna Nandap.