The Comptroller-General of the Nigeria Immigration Service, Muhammad Babandede, has urged passport applicants to avoid patronising touts, saying the process has been made seamless for efficient service delivery.
He also cautioned passport racketeers and defaulting officers within the service to abstain from practices capable of undermining the NIS’ reform.
He said this while announcing the reopening of the passport applications and payment portal.
The Service’s Public Relations Officer, Amos Okpu, revealed this on Tuesday in a statement titled ‘Reopening of passport application portal.’
The statement read, “The passport application portal will be reopened effective June 8, 2021 by midnight to allow eligible passport applicants to apply and make payments for the various categories of passports of their choice.
“The passport portal was closed following the directives of the Minister of Interior, Rauf Aregbesola, on May 17, 2021 to allow the service to clear all backlogs of applications that have piled up across Issuing Centres in the past few months.”
According to the statement, under the new passport regime, applications and payments for passport services shall be made through the service’s website.
The statement added, “Upon successful applications, applicants shall make their online booking interview/enrolment appointment on any day, time and location they consider convenient.
“That the new timeline for passport production and issuance after a successful enrolment at the selected issuing centre shall be six weeks for fresh applications and three weeks for re-issue (renewal applications).”
