The Chairman, Senate Committee on Petroleum Resources (Downstream), Senator Abdulrahman Kawu Sumaila, has backed the Nigeria Immigration Service’s (NIS) centralised passport production system, saying it will strengthen national security, improve efficiency and curb extortion.
Kawu spoke after leading a Senate delegation on a fact-finding visit to the NIS headquarters in Abuja, following complaints from constituents and other Nigerians that passport production centres, particularly in Kano and other parts of the North, had been relocated.
He said the visit showed that the complaints were largely based on misconceptions about the ongoing migration of passport production to a central facility in Abuja.
After being briefed by NIS officials and taken through the production process, the senator said he was convinced that the reform was designed to improve the security and integrity of Nigeria’s international travel documents.
“They explained the process to us in detail, what they have achieved so far and what they are currently doing. Their objective is to adopt international best practices,” he said.
Kawu said the reform would help the country move away from a system associated with delays, corruption and other challenges.
“For our national security, we need to have a centralised system that will produce our passports. The passport is one of the most important documents for any Nigerian,” he said.
He added that the initiative would help prevent criminal elements from abusing Nigerian passports.
Kawu, who said he was “100 per cent satisfied” with the explanation, promised to brief the Senate on his findings.
“I insisted that I must come here, witness the process myself and return to tell my constituents that there is no cause for alarm. We will solidly support the Nigeria Immigration Service,” he said.
The Assistant Comptroller-General in charge of Passports and other Travel Documents, Titilayo Olaiya, said the reform followed an assessment conducted in 2024, which identified the need for a more secure and uniform production process.
He said centralisation would allow the NIS to monitor production more effectively and eliminate opportunities for touts to extort applicants.
“In the past, when you got to passport offices, a tout could approach you and say that if you wanted to expedite your passport, you should bring a certain amount of money. That is no longer the case,” Olaiya said.
He said the central facility currently had the capacity to produce about 1,000 passports per hour.
Olaiya explained that the migration was being carried out in phases, beginning with centres with lower production volumes before moving to larger ones.
He said Kano was included in Phase Four, while major centres such as Lagos would be migrated later because of their higher production volumes.
He dismissed claims that the exercise targeted the North, saying all passport centres remained operational.
“All our passport centres are still functioning. From application submission to biometrics, all those processes are still done at the passport centres,” he said.
He said approved applications were sent electronically to the central facility, after which completed passports were dispatched to the relevant offices or applicants through courier services.
The Deputy Comptroller-General in charge of Visa and Residency, Dr Franca Nwanneka, said the NIS was automating its processes and conducting sensitisation campaigns in English, Pidgin and Hausa.
She urged lawmakers and other stakeholders to help explain the new system to Nigerians at the grassroots.
Nwanneka said the remaining migration exercise would cover Lagos and some foreign missions, including locations in the United States, Canada and the United Kingdom, before the end of the year.
Kawu also urged the NIS to improve support for Nigerians facing passport-related challenges in Saudi Arabia.
The Service said it operates from the Nigerian Consulate in Jeddah and periodically conducts passport intervention exercises at the Nigerian Embassy in Riyadh.
Credit to our Media Partner DailyTrust .
