Kwara Command alone has 3,000 passports awaiting collection clogs the system
By Jeph Ajobaju, Chief Copy Editor
Some 3,000 passports are awaiting collection at the Kwara Command, the Nigeria Immigration Service (NIS) has cried out, urging applicants to do their part in realising the drive by Interior Minister Bunmi Tunji-Ojo to ensure the travel documents are delivered on schedule henceforth.
The uncollected passports are for applicants from across the country, not just for Kwarans, said outgoing Comptroller of Passports at the Command, Baba Aliyu.
He disclosed the figure to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Ilorin on the sidelines of a retirement party organised in his honour.
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Applicants can’t be contacted through wrong phone numbers
Aliyu urged Abuja to sanction applicants who fail to collect their passports, lamenting many of them cannot be contacted through the telephone numbers they provided on their application forms, per Vanguard reporting.
“We usually send SMS through the contact address and phone numbers provided by the applicants, but some messages fail due to the fact that the numbers are fake,” Aliyu disclosed.
“Some applicants may have died, while others may refuse to collect it because they could not meet up with what they wanted to use it for.
“Whatever the reasons may be, passports should not be abandoned, as they serve a lot of functions besides being travelling documents.”
Aliyu disclosed the passports are not only for people of Kwara, but for applicants from across Nigeria, and urged them to physically visit the immigration office to collect their passports.
He counselled new applicants to visit the NIS website at immigration.gov.ng to apply, stressing it takes just two weeks to acquire a passport as well as renew an expired one.