The Minister of Interior, Rauf Aregbesola, has promised that applicants will soon begin to get Nigerian passports within 24 hours.
The minister also in a statement on Sunday said passport would be issued in each of the 774 local government areas in the country to reduce the problem of getting it.
Aregbesola, who is a former governor of Osun State, said this at the newly inaugurated Maitama Passport Express Centre.
He explained that the Nigeria Immigration Service Passport Express Centre, Maitama, Abuja, was established in partnership with the private sector to make passport issuance more convenient and quick.
Aregbesola stated that the opening of the centre, which signified the inauguration of the Passport Issuance Decentralization policy of the administration, was the first of many more to be established in every local government area in Nigeria and designed to offer specialised services to Nigerians.
Aregbesola said, “It is the future. The goal is to have a facility like this in every local government in the country. Every Nigerian has the right to a Nigerian passport and it is our responsibility to put it in the hands of anyone desirous of it within the shortest possible time, without stress.
“The passport should be available in maximum of 72 hours of a successful application. Where there are issues, the applicant must be notified within 48 hours.”
Copyright PUNCH
