Tunji-Ojo says automated passport process 99% ready
By Jeph Ajobaju, Chief Copy Editor
Passport application automation is 99 per cent ready and expected to be up and running “next week” – that is, on or before 8 December 2023 – Interior Minister Olubunmi Tunji-Ojo, one of the few visible genuine performers in the Bola Tinubu cabinet so far, has announced.
Tinubu himself, a man with little political capital from the get go, is mainly grandstanding and wasting borrowed money by flying around the world claiming to attract foreign investment even when multinational companies are relocating from Nigeria because of the utterly corrupt, unfriendly, and extortionate business levy environment.
Tinubu set out by bribing lawmakers with N110 billion from the fuel removal subsidy budget so they can always do his bidding instead of restraining him from excesses.
The President is supposed to spearhead the restructuring of Nigeria, but he is missing in action, failing to deliver on his historical agitation he now has the power and influence to implement.
And in contrast to Tunji-Ojo, little is seen or heard of several other Ministers heading critical departments who are expected to press reform and ensure good governance.
Little is seen or heard of Attorney General and Justice Minister Lateef Fagbemi, SAN who is supposed to implement reform in the judiciary whose sins of miscarriage of justice have risen to the high heavens.
Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN) Olukayode Ariwoola may, like the ostrich, bury his head in the sand and quote one side of the Constitution – and ignore the other side – to justify injustice, but the public sees through his complicity.
So, the judiciary is crying for reform.
But Fagbemi is mum on it, with the comprehensive and well applauded Uwais Report on Electoral/Judicial Reform gathering dust in his office.
Apart from making announcements around further borrowing, little is also seen or heard of Finance Minister and Coordinating Minister of the Economy, Wale Edun, who is expected to lead economic diversification and help slash inflation to make life bearable for Nigerians.
Edun quotes figures and other statistics but they do not translate into raising the standard of living for citizens or persuade foreigners to invest and retain their capital in Nigeria.
On the other hand, Tunji-Ojo has made clearing more than 300,000 passport backlogs one of his priorities from the day he assumed office in August, and has since announced 204,322 of such passports are now ready for collection.
However, only 99,901 have been collected out of the lot, he added, leaving 104,421 passports still awaiting collection.
He gave his latest (practical) update on the automation process, affirming he is not deterred from his mission of ensuring a hassle-free experience for Nigerians who love to travel and have suffered frustration in obtaining passports over the years.
“Automation of passport applications is 99 per cent done. We’ve done the testing, and we should be going live in the next week or thereabouts,” Tunji-Ojo announced on Channels Television on Tuesday.
“That will ensure that all Nigerians need to do in an immigration centre – a passport centre – is just biometrics, just to take your fingerprints. All other things are going to be in the comfort of your home, including uploading your passport picture and your supporting documents, just like your visa.”
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Ending chaotic passport application process
Tunji-Ojo previously announced reforms are underway to simplify passport application process, with the possibility of submitting online applications by December 2023.
One of the objectives is to end the “chaotic” passport application process, he stressed, per Vanguard.
“For me personally, I have said this to service providers; I said it today, I said it yesterday, and I have always told them, ‘You need to make life easy for people. We cannot, as a government and as a service, make things more difficult than they ought to be.’
“Part of the reforms that we are putting in place now, starting from December, is that even when you want to enrol for your passport, you fill your forms online, you do your payments online, and everything.”
He repeated assurance the ministry will do everything possible to reduce frustration in the application process, such that only biometric capture needs to be done in person, as all other details can be submitted on the portal of the Nigeria Immigration Service (NIS).
“You do not need to go to the passport office to have your picture captured. People apply for American visas, people apply for UK visas, and people apply all over the world. Your passport with the required specifications as directed by the NIS will be uploaded on the platform.
“You upload your passport online, you upload your supporting documents online, so when you go to the immigration office, you spend just like five minutes just to have your biometrics captured; that’s all.
“The era of people sacrificing a whole day just because they want to go to a passport office for enrollment is over; it is unacceptable. You cannot inconvenience people based on their rights; it is the right of the people to have a seamless experience.”
