No fewer than 32,462 people have applied for international passports and uploaded their documents from the Nigeria Immigration Service site between January 8 and 21, 2024.
The summary of passport applications for the year 2024 was disclosed by Caroline Adepoju, the Comptroller-General of Immigration Service, who was on a visit to the Ikoyi and Alausa passport offices yesterday to see how things were working regarding the introduction of the automated passport application process.
Speaking to journalists at the end of the assessment, Adepoju stated that of the 32,462 applications, 11,505 were awaiting approval, while 3,406 who made payment were yet to book appointments.
She noted that 15,113 of these applications have reportedly been approved for biometric capture and production, which is fifty percent of the total application.
She added that 1,438 applications were queried for various reasons.
Adepoju said: “50 percent of the total applications have been successfully approved for biometric capture, production, and issuance; 35 percent await approval; 11 percent made payments but have yet to book appointments; and only four percent of the total applications were queried.
“When queries are successfully answered, the applications return to the queue and are subsequently approved for biometric acquisition, production, and issuance.”
Stressing that the introduction of the automation of passport applications was not new, Adepoju clarified that “the major difference now is that supporting documents are now uploaded online. It is a research-based decision, and we have been recording successes.
“As of this morning (yesterday), we have only recorded a four percent rejection of uploaded documents, which may be due to errors on the part of the applicant. But our help desk is operational 24/7.
“The Nigeria Immigration Service, our technical partners, service providers, and other stakeholders worked together with the Minister of Interior, Dr. Olubunmi Tunji-Ojo, to come up with this reform on the automation of the passport process, which has been in place since the inception of the issuance of enhanced e-passports in 2020.”
