Tunji-Ojo said it was inhumane to ask married women to come to the headquarters in Abuja to effect a change of name on their passports.
By Jeffrey Agbo
Minister of Interior, Olubunmi Tunji-Ojo, has criticised the Nigerian Immigration Service (NIS) for asking married women to come to the headquarters in Abuja to effect a change of name on their passports.
Tunji-Ojo said at a recent dinner with members of the Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu ABAT Media Centre and some social media influencers in Abuja that such a demand is “inhumane.”
He said women are not subjected to such inhuman practices on account of marriage anywhere in the world.
He said, “There is one stupid thing I have seen and it is that a woman gets married, changes her name, and then she has to come to Abuja all the way from say Kaura Namoda or Enugu just to come and effect a change of name in her passport. It is absurd.
Tunji-Ojo added, “I can’t just figure it that you want to change just your name and you have to be in Abuja. I have asked the immigration people, is it that immigration people in Abuja have more than one head than those in the states?”
The minister declared that the passport issue remains the least of his worries, adding that as of March, the new passport reforms he is putting in place would ensure contactless biometrics enrolment to allow Nigerians to do their enrolments from their comfort zones.
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Tunji-Ojo, however, noted that he wants more secure borders for the country.
“With the new reforms, you don’t need to travel to Abuja to change your data. Everything will be online.
“From March, once you have ever enrolled for your passport and you are coming to renew, please don’t come to my office, stay in your house and do it. We have contactless biometrics and this can be done in five minutes. We don’t need to keep taking your biometrics every five years. Who does that in the world?
“This is what #RenewedHope is about. It is about positively disrupting the process. By the grace of God, the issue of passports is the least of our worries,” the minister stated.