Aregbesola Mandates Immigration to issue passport in 48 hours

The minister of Interior, Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola on Friday directed officials of Nigeria Immigration Service (NIS ) to exploit every capacity within the service to ensure issuance of international passports to genuine and qualified applicants within 48 hours.
The Minister disclosed this  in Lagos while flagging off the NIS Management retreat.
The Minister said with deployment of state- of- the- art technology, the 48 hours timeline for acquiring an international passport was achievable if officials of the NIS eliminates human contacts and deal with racketeering, which has built an “unusual economy “, around the passport issuance process.
He said the directive has become imperative because of the pains and agonizing experience many Nigerians are subjected to in their bid to procure the important travel document.
The Minister also directed the NIS to be on top of its game by putting in place a strict implementation process of the Border Management Strategy in order to ensure border safety and security.
Aregbesola urged the NIS to eliminate bottlenecks associated with procurement of international passport by adopting cutting edge technology that will reduce human interface.

He said NIS as the face of the nation at border entry and exit points must train its personnel on how to treat Nigerians and others with dignity.
Aregbesola said the service must place high premium on the provision of infrastructure and human capacity as motivation for efficient services.
Aregbesola said huge infrastructure is useless without the human elements, urging the NIS to invest more in the training of its personnel by scaling up infrastructure of the mind to achieve efficiency in service delivery.
He challenged the NIS to scale up its facilitation at the airport to reduce long queues for arriving passengers.
The Minister said Nigerians deserve a better deal NIS urging its management to think out of the box on how to implement the three point agenda of President Muhammadu Buhari bordering on security , economy and transparency.
He enjoined the NIS to play a leading role in ensuring that the borders of Nigeria are safe and secured to guarantee buoyant economy and a transparent service delivery.
Doing such, he said will make Nigeria preferred destination for investors and visitors without comprising national security.
Aregbesola said: “From information available to me, it is possible with the right technology in place for Nigeria Immigration Service to issue international passports to applicants who have paid the official fees after forty eight hours. If there is any delay, the officials should communicate to the affected applicants .
“One of the ways to achieve this is to deploy the right technology and eliminate human contact in the passport issuance process. This way, we eliminate sharp practices and racketerring built around the process. This is the way to go and all officials should shun all forms of corruption in the discharge of their duties.

“The primary role of the Immigration Service is the Security of the border and migration management. No unwanted , suspicious and criminal person must be allowed entry into our nation just as we are to prevent the exit from Nigeria of all known domestic real felons and or domestic potential felons from leaving Nigeria to tarnish our image abroad .
“All officers of the Service must as a matter of urgency, embrace the digital tradition and be technology/computer compliant, particularly at the senior and management level. Our officers must shun all forms of corruption through openness and transparency in the discharge of their duties.