The federal government has decried non-collection of at least, 250,000 passports by applicants nationwide, even it warned against racketeering among the officers of the Nigeria Immigration Service (NIS).
Speaking Thursday in Enugu, at the unveiling of the enhanced electronic passport facility and commissioning of the passport production centre, minister of Interior, Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola, said the federal government was working to phase out the old electronic passports.
There has been a recent outcry over alleged delays in passports issuance, but the minister insisted that; “last time I checked, over 250,000 passports remain uncollected by applicants.
“Their owners will probably be among those complaining they are yet to receive their passports.
“Nevertheless, many applicants are not going to have their passports because of the errors in their applications, which delayed processing.
“They may not know because they applied through touts and other illegal channels,” he said.
The passport production centre, inaugurated three months after the commissioning of that of the South-west in Ibadan, is to serve entire Southeastern Nigeria.
The former Osun state governor said the introduction of the enhanced electronic passports was to eradicate scams, racketeering and all other forms of corruption in the application process of the document.
While warning Nigerians not to patronise touts and Nigeria Immigration Service officials, he said that all transactions must be done online.
Speaking at the event, the acting Comptroller General of NIS, Isah Jere Idris, said the new enhanced electronic passport is of a polycarbonate technology with additional 25 security features over the old electronic passport.
“It is the latest passport technology…It is difficult to forge as the improved security features will make any attempt not only impossible but also easily noticeable,” he said.
According to the NIS CG, Nigeria is the first country in Africa to migrate to the type of passport.
The enhanced electronic passport comes in three categories; the 32-page five-year validity, the 64-page five-year validity and the 64-page 10-year validity.
