The Nigeria Immigration Service (NIS) has assured Nigerians that passports will be ready within two weeks after applying online. The Comptroller General of the Service, Wura-Ola Adepoju, made this announcement during an interview on Channels Television’s Sunrise Daily on Wednesday.

Adepoju stated that it will take approximately two weeks from the point of application for green passports to be produced. She emphasized, “Because of the screening that we need to do, we are looking at two weeks as the timeframe from the point of application to the point of production.”

The NIS boss expressed concern about the high number of uncollected passports at the Ikoyi office of the Service. Additionally, she revealed that Nigerians would be able to renew their travel passports without human contact effective March 8, 2024.

Adepoju explained, “From March 8, everyone applying for renewal will be doing contactless application because for people who have the Nigerian passports, we have their data, we have their biometrics. So, from the comfort of their homes, they can apply for renewal or re-issue of their passports and they would be able to deploy their biometrics like their fingerprints which we will now compare with what we have in our database. If everything goes well, then we will be able to issue them the passports they applied for.”

The Service had earlier reported that over 46,000 applications were received since January 8, 2024, when it began automating the passport application process. Adepoju emphasized the importance of inputting accurate information on the Service’s website and highlighted the provision for changing data on the portal for passport application.

Regarding concerns about non-Nigerians obtaining the green passport, Adepoju mentioned ongoing efforts to collaborate with stakeholders such as NPC and ALGON to ensure proper documentation of certificates of indigeneship. She assured that the NIS has various levels of checks in place to prevent non-Nigerians from acquiring Nigerian passports.

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