Foreign News

Passport Application Automation Process Kicks Off Jan 8

Published

7 months ago

January 2, 2024

Minister of Interior, Olubunmi Tunji-Ojo

If you are in need of a passport, then note that the promised passport application automation process is here. It wil kick off next week, Janurary 8, 2024

This much has been confirmed by the Minister of Interior, Olubunmi Tunji-Ojo.

Speaking while inspecting facilities of the Nigeria Immigration Service in Abuja, the minister said Nigerians would now be able to apply and complete their passport application process online without human contact.

“We are good to go live. We are starting the training and on January 8, the solution will be live and direct for Nigerians to have a good feel, a sweet experience based on the Renewed Hope of Mr President.

“We have been able to reduce human contact in passport acquisition to the minimum.”

He added that the initiative will improve the security architecture of the country, prompting a quick detection of fake passport applications and reducing bottlenecks”..

The minister was accompanied at the event by the Comptroller General of the Service, Wura-Ola Adepoju.

It will be recalled that last December, Olubunmi Tunji-Ojo had stated that the federal Government was working towards ensuring a Passport Application Automation system that would reduce hiccups applying for the document.

According to him, the migration was already 99 per cent complete, and that it would require applicants carrying out some of the tasks of applying for the passports themselves.

Tunji-Ojo made this known in a follow-up appearance in an interview on Tuesday’s edition of Channels Television’s Politics Today where he said that the technology was “99 percent done”.

The Eagle reports that last year while appearing on Channels Television, the minister stated:

“In fact, we have done the testing and we should be going live in the next one week or thereabout”, he said.

It is expected that the Passport Application Automation system would address some of the hiccups hitherto experienced in the process of applying for passports in the country.