Nigerian passport administration was fraught with many challenges over a long period of time. The problems include slow application process, shortage of booklets, and exploitation of passport applicants by few corrupt personnel within the Nigeria Immigration Service (NIS) working in cohort with syndicates. Other challenges include supply of incomplete personal data/information by applicants, use of third-party agents who often supplied incorrect information about applicants, and non-collection of printed passports by applicants.
The frustration faced by many Nigerians at home and abroad in processing new passports or renewing the expired ones thus necessitated the administration of immediate-past President Muhammadu Buhari to make the reform of passport administration a priority cardinal programme of his administration.
In light of its negative impact on Nigeria’s image, passport administration reform was one of the key focus areas for the immediate-past Minister of Interior, Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola. His understanding of the enormity of the issues led him to launch and implement various reform initiatives which have resulted today in the simplified steps that have shortened the waiting time for passport application, processing, production and collection to under six weeks for new application and three weeks for re-issue.
By vigorously pursuing the reform of the Nigerian passport administration with such uncommon passion and energy, not only did Ogbeni Aregbesola resolve most of the age-long challenges in passport ecosystem significantly, he also bequeathed to the country a more efficient and seamless passport ecosystem that we are all proud of.
Among the array of innovative solutions which the former Minister, in collaboration with the leadership of the Immigration Service, deployed included the rollout of the new enhanced e-Passport with Polycarbonate Data Page and 25 security features, making the Nigerian international passport more respected globally.
More centralised passport production centres were also built and commissioned in Ibadan and Enugu, thereby helping to upscale timely availability of passport booklets. Under Ogbeni Aregbesola, passport application process also migrated online (portal and timelines), while improved and secured online payment solutions were also deployed, thereby eliminating the activities of middlemen, touts, racketeers and fraudsters. Online appointment-based enrolment for passport applicants after payment was also introduced.
Other innovative solutions to passport administration under Ogbeni Aregbesola as Minister of Interior included Passport Application Tracking (PATs) solution; and opening of passport front offices in Alimosho (Lagos State), Daura (Katsina State), Oyo (Oyo State), Zaria (Kaduna State), and Ilesa (Osun State).
The reform initiatives also included the sensitisation of operation irregularities at passport centres including the arrest and disciplinary actions on errant officials; establishment of passport contact centres and digital channels; institutionalising the Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) for passport processing; policy on admittance of Nigerians with expired passports; sequential passport application processing; and the launch of fastrack Diaspora service.
So, for someone or a group of persons to insinuate or allege that Ogbeni Aregbesola was a complete failure on passport administration as Minister of Interior, was therefore, a fallacy, an illusion and a deliberate weak attempt to maliciously re-write the history. Let’s do a little math on passport production during his stewardship as Minister.
Between August 1, 2019 and May 16, 2023, the Immigration Service under Ogbeni Aregbesola’s watch processed and issued 4,591,055 out of 4,739,075 passport applications, representing 96.94% production rate. In 2022, 1,621,703 passports were produced, an 80% increase over the 1,057,908 passports produced in 2021, while in 2020, the production figure was 780,470. In 2019, 470,363 passports were produced, indicating exponential yearly increases.
When Aregbesola came on board, he inherited a passport administration ecosystem that was problematic. There were not enough booklets to print passports; payment for passport application was by paperwork and cash-based, thus giving room for extortion. There was no standard collection timeline or tracking mechanism due to the absence of SOP, but by the time he was leaving the office, he had completely changed the situation.
Even in the process of reforming and correcting the problems when COVID-19 pandemic exacerbated the already bad situation, the can-do spirit and resilience of the former Minister did not allow him to buckle in. The pandemic-induced disruption affected passport booklets’ production for over six months as the entire world grappled with the pandemic. However, with ease in lockdown, Ogbeni Aregbesola and his team at the Nigerian Immigration Service gave booklet supply top priority in a race to meet up with the huge demands and backlogs that the pandemic had impacted on passport production.
It’s also noteworthy to state that as at May 29, 2023 exit date, when Aregbesola left office, there were few backlogs in the system, especially for the applications falling within the outstanding three weeks and six weeks waiting periods and those with specific issues. In fact, in the last leg of Ogbeni Areagbesola’s tenure (January 1 to May 29, 2023), a total of 660,611 passports were produced. Certainly, the recent backlogs that were cleared resulted from what accumulated between the time Aregbesola left office and when the new minister assumed office. It is imperative that the new minister pays greater attention therefore, to the human inefficiencies within the system.
And for critics that have short memory, Aregbesola initiated the novel home delivery of passports while he was the Minister of Interior. He had even finalized negotiations with the service provider before leaving office. It is commendable that Aregbesola’s successor, Dr. Olubunmi Tunji-Ojo, has keyed-in into the laudable initiative and making sure the project gets delivered.
It is also gratifying to state for the sake of those trying to down play the enviable achievements of Ogbeni Aregbesola that the details of the former Minister’s stewardship on passport administration were well-documented in the 182-page handover note that he left for his successor. Thank God, the new Minister is already doing very well by continuing the good policies and making adjustments where necessary in order to make the passport system more efficient since government is a continuum.
Aregbesola’s scorecard in other sectors that formed his ministerial portfolio including border management, the reform of the correctional centres, protection of critical national infrastructure through enhancing the operations of the Nigerian Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) and Federal Fire and Rescue Service also attested to his excellent performance in office.
Without any doubt, the positive impact of the numerous reform initiatives spearheaded by Aregbesola including the launch of enhanced e-Passport, digitisation of passport application, payment and processing; commissioning of more passport production centres, opening of the first-of-kind Passport Front Offices, upgrade of Passport Control Offices, commissioning of new administrative offices and improved welfare to enhance the capacity and boost the motivation of NIS passport personnel – are facts that cannot be denied. They are proof of Aregbesola’s proactiveness which has seen to high-rate of access to the Nigerian international passports by the traveling public.
Ojo, a public affairs analyst wrote from Osogbo
