CG orders clearance of passport backlogs within 48 hours

The Comptroller-General of Immigration, Muhammad Babandede, has ordered all Passport Control Officers nationwide as well as Passport Issuing Desks in Nigeria’s Foreign Missions to clear all backlog of passport applications within 48 hours.
He added that failure to comply with the directive would be interpreted to mean the PCO is incompetent and would therefore be removed.

A statement by the Service Public Relations Officer, Ekpedeme King, on Monday in Abuja said the directive followed complaints and agitations from passport applicants concerning service delivery at the passport offices.
The CG warned that the timeline for processing of passports remains 72 hours, noting that he expects every passport office to conform to the policy forthwith.
Babandede also called on passport applicants to always get their  documents such as birth certificate, age declaration and certified guarantor’s forms from the right sources to avoid delay in the processing of their passports.
In a related development, the CGI said he has inaugurated a committee comprising the Assistant Comptroller-General of Immigration (Passports), Ndubisi Ndife and NIS technical partners,  Iris Technologies Ltd and NewWorks Ltd, to re-configure the NIS passport platform in order to enable state passport  offices re-issue passports to applicants who want to change their data on account of marriage or due to loss of previous ones.
With this development, he stated that  such category of applicants would not need to travel to Abuja to effect any change in their travel documents but go to the passport offices in the states they reside to do it.