*Applicants Part With N70,000 To N130,000 To Obtain Passports Within Shorter Period Of Time
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Recent revelations on the passport processing system of the Nigerian Immigration Service has established allegations of bribery and extortion in the process with Passport Control Officers within the Service pointed as culpable in turning the process into a racket with several Nigerians having to part with huge sums of money to secure their passports in shorter timespans. The urge to leave Nigeria is said to have put further strain on the Nigeria Immigration Service, which has been unable to satisfy the soaring demand for passports giving leeway for desperate applicants to pay unremitted sums for expediting their applications.
The Nigerian Immigration Service’ new passport processing system, which went into effect on June 1, 2021, was meant to be more transparent and faster for applicants to receive their passports. However, a recent report by THISDAY has confirmed that it has turned into a corruption hotbed. Because the current procedure takes three months to process an applicant’s passport, many people now pay Passport Control Officers (PCOs) to expedite the process.
To obtain a new passport, an applicant is expected to go online at the Nigerian Immigration Service portal and apply, make payment, select the particular passport office and date. However THISDAY learned that some applicants may be asked to come for capture within an average of three months after the application has been submitted.
Since many people cannot wait so long to get a new passport or renew an old one, they visit passport offices to check if they can get their passports sooner.
This new cashless method, adopted last year which may have prevented bribes, looks to have a vulnerability in that it requires an application to wait a lengthy time for a response.
An investigation by THISDAY found that Passport Control Officers are now making money by charging applicants for expedited processing of their passports.
According to the report which is sequel to an investigation carried out in South South, and South East states, the passport processing procedure has been turned into a major racket by the Passport Control Officers who illegally extort applicants of huge sums across various passport offices.
According to a NIS source who corroborated the fraudulent activity, the bustling passport offices in Lagos and Abuja have been extensively watched throughout the years while the trend was flourishing in other states.
He said: “There is high level of corruption outside Lagos and Abuja. In the South South and South East 32-page passport with five years validity costs about N70, 000 extra to obtain and as much as N130, 000 for the 64 page 10 years validity passports. This, it was learnt, is obtained in Akwa Ibom, Abia and Imo states. Behind the scene, activities in Lagos reflect the same thing but not at the same level of exploitation as obtained in other states.
“Truth is that the online process is not working. The PCOs use emergency date to collect money from applicants. When they asked you to appear at the passport offices in three months after online application, the applicants fly to these other states to obtain the passports. There is always the urgent need to have the passports in shorter time than the date online application gives the applicants,” he said.
As earlier noted, one of the factors responsible for the spike in passport applications is the economic hardship in the country. Two years ago, Ikoyi, which is the busiest passport office in Nigeria, was processing average of 15,000-20,000 passports monthly, while Festac and Alausa offices produced about 50 per cent of that figure of about 7,500 to 10, 000 passports monthly. But today the demand has quadrupled and other states are recording huge increase in demand because many Nigerians wish to leave the country.
“Due to economic depression, Nigerians are leaving the county in their thousands to flee from economic hardship and low standard of living. Even Nigerians in their 50s are applying for further studies overseas in order to leave the country and escape the current hardship. The request to study abroad is quickly granted by many countries because that is the visa that attracts high forex due to school fees. So many Nigerians are leaving and that pushes the increased demand for passports,” a senior Immigration official told THISDAY.
In a chat with THISDAY investigative team, the PCO of the Umuahia passport office, Mrs. P. C Nwodo denied that applicants pay money in order to have their passports processed in quick time, stating that the new passport booklets are printed in Enugu and therefore she cannot manipulate the process.
Besides, she said that as the PCO, she efficiently oversee activities in the passport office but not accountable to any applicant that gives money to anybody.
“We have received report of extortion and when we do, the officer involved is punished and the money refunded back to the applicant. So we are working with a programmed system, which follows a process and gives no access to manipulation,” she said.
The spokesman of the Nigeria Immigration Service, Mr. Amos Okpu in his reaction told THISDAY that the passport application process do not involve any kind of transaction.
“Applicants are expected to go online, fill the form and make payment. This is a strong measure to avert any kind of cash transaction. It is wrong procedure to go to passport office with cash because you are supposed to go to the passport office with evidence of your payment online. While filling the form online you choose the office you wish to go, the date that is convenient to you. So what we want you to do is to educate Nigerians about this process, which you can use to obtain your passport without payment of money to anybody,” Okpu said.
He added that the only applicants who are extorted are those who refused to follow the process, “because the Immigration process is cashless”
He urged that, “if anyone requests money from an applicant the applicant should report him or her to Immigration authorities.”
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