…….Cites communication challenges, third party transactions, inaccurate details
Over 140,000 thousand international passport booklets remains unclaimed at issuing offices across the country , the Nigerian Immigration Service, NIS said on Wednesday.
The NIS said it was getting worried over the trend, where Nigerians blame the Service for not meeting their needs for the essential travel document, only to process it and they are not coming forward to collect the printed document at the respective Passport Offices nationwide.
Its Comptroller General, Isah Jere who disclosed this cited communication challenges and the use of third party agents for request for international passports as the major factors for swelling up the unclaimed numbers.
Jere said the NIS has embarked on an enlightenment campaign to sensitize Nigerian to shun the use of third party agents for international passports.
He spoke through an Assistant Comptroller General ( ACG), Migration Directorate, Abdullahi Usman who said efforts to reach the applicants for the 140,000 unclaimed passports had become difficult due to either wrong incomplete information supplied by third party players or contact details.
Speaking during a Fact Finding Visit to the Alausa Passport Office and the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Usman called on applicants who have either lost their slips or forgotten their appointment dates to check Immigration Offices where they applied to pick up their passport .
The ACG who spoke after inspecting activities at Alausa cautioned applicants to shun the use of third parties to apply for their passports as those people do them a disservice by not filling in their accurate details especially phone numbers and email addresses and so when it is time to contact the applicant, there is no communication.
Usman explained : ”Why we are here is a directive from the Comptroller General and has observed that there are a lot of uncollected passports in all the passport offices and we have about 100,000 passports unclaimed and apart from that , we still have about 40, 000 passports produced recently, unclaimed.
” This thing is causing us worry because once you’ve done your own bit and people have not collected it, it causes worry and it’s based on this that we are not there yet. That is why the CGI set up the committee to make sure the unclaimed passports are clearly given to the owners. And again, we came into the field and were able to understand why some were not claimed.
“What are the reasons why we have done the passports and collection has not happened? Before production was the issue due to various factors but now, it is no longer an issue, collection has become the issue now. The reason why passports are not collected are due to unreliable data.
“The addresses are incomplete , phone numbers and emails which are quick to reach are usually not correct and so communication cannot take place with the applicant hence no feedback. This is because the third party uses his or her own phone number and email address and so we cannot communicate with the applicant directly to tell them their passports are ready.
Usman called on applicants to fill their forms by themselves and provide the right details assuring them that they would get their passports as the process is not cumbersome.
Usman also visited the MMIA Command of the Service where the Comptroller, Adeola Adesokan hinted him on what the Service hopes to accomplish in terms of facilitation in the new year, she equally gave a breakdown of 2022 in terms of passengers facilitated and revenue generated.
Adesokan told the CGI’s representative that in the year 2022, the command facilitated no fewer than three hundred and fifty eight thousand, nine hundred and fifty- three ( 358,953) passengers from January to December 2022 and a 51,608 arriving via the Visa on Arrival ( VOA) scheme with 32,789 males and 15,819 females generating revenue of $4, 916,341
According to Adesokan, each day no fewer than 3, 000 passengers were handled and the number doubled during the festive period all done with limited counters especially during peak periods.
She also told the CGI that there are plans to digitalize the clearance system so arriving passengers do not have to come to the airports to start filling their clearance forms but have done it on their phone from the comfort of their homes and it can be synchronized through a QR Code.
