Nigeria's Minister of Interior, Olubunmi Tunji-Ojo, has announced that the Nigeria Immigration Service (NIS) successfully cleared a backlog of approximately 60,000 passport applications in just four days. This significant achievement comes as part of a government effort to address the passport crisis in the country, with over 200,000 pending passport applications.
Minister Tunji-Ojo had previously directed the NIS to clear all outstanding passport applications within two weeks. As of now, nearly 60,000 applications have been processed and cleared, marking substantial progress towards this goal.
The minister emphasized that resolving the passport crisis was a priority for the government and that the ongoing efforts would continue until all backlogs were cleared.
During a courtesy visit by Minister Betta Edu of Humanitarian Affairs and Poverty Alleviation, both ministers discussed the need for collaboration between their ministries to tackle issues related to human trafficking and other challenges like the welfare of veterans, underemployment, and poverty reduction.
Minister Tunji-Ojo expressed support for the collaboration, aligning it with President Bola Tinubu's "Renewed Hope Agenda" and emphasizing the importance of working together to achieve meaningful progress in various areas, including humanitarian endeavors and addressing the welfare of inmates in correctional centers
