..Minister gives marching order to NIS on bottlenecks hampering seamless issuance of passport
By Mohammed Mohammed
The Minister of Interior, Dr. Olubunmi Tunji-Ojo, on Wednesday said getting Nigerian passport shouldn’t be a privilege but a right.
This is coming even even as he gave matching
order to the Nigeria Immigration Service (NIS) to dismantle all bottlenecks hindering swift issuance of passport to Nigerians.
The Minister also directed NIS to immediately disengage from any partnership found to be hampering speedy issuance of passports to Nigerians.
Tunji-Ojo, gave these instructions during his maiden familiarization visits to formations of the various Services under the Ministry on Wednesday in Abuja.
He informed the NIS that he is helsman at the Ministry to drive the needed reforms that will see the actualisation of the President Tinubu’s Renewed Hope Agenda for Nigeria to achieve desired greatness.
The Minister then assured that new reforms and policies will soon be rolled out to further boost the efforts of officers and men of the Service.
Tunji-Oju, made it abundantly clear that getting Nigerian passport is a right and not a privilege.
He also demand that Nigerians living outside the shores of the country deserves to be respected.
He urged the London immigration office to improve it’s services and accord Nigerians maximum respect while seeking for travel documents to UK; adding that our citizens wherever they are must be proud to be Nigerians
The Minister appreciated the Correctional officers for their selfless service and pledged his support for their welfare.
He promised that the Administration of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu is ready to leverage on modern technology to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of the services to the country.
Responding to questions from the Press at the Kuje Correctional facility, the Minister asserted that his visit was to make an on-the-spot assesment of the Centre in order to make corrections where necessary.
He added that Correctional Centres should not be repressive and condemnation centres but true reformative and correctional facilities. He assured that similar visits to other facilities will be carried out across the country.
On the Minister’s entourage during the familiarization tour are the Permanent Secretary of the Ministry, Dr Oluwatoyin Akinlade, Directors in the ministry of Interior and other top management staff.