The Nigeria Immigration Service (NIS) has blamed the scarcity of passport booklets on President Muhammadu Buhari’s regime and the Central Bank of Nigeria’s policy on forex.

The NIS comptroller-general, Idris Jere, disclosed this at a public hearing organised by an ad hoc committee of the House of Representatives in Abuja.

“Foreign exchange regulation policy of the government and CBN’s refusal to grant access to forex for importation of the passport booklets. We generate forex from sale of passport but we do not have access to buy the same booklet and that is a challenge for NIS,” explained the NIS chief.

He added, “The factors responsible for scarcity of passport include the inability to set up passport-producing factory in Nigeria as its production is done abroad. The major seven components used for producing passports are sold in international market and the assemblage and production are done in Malaysia.”

Mr Jere explained that Irris Smart Technology Ltd, the foreign company responsible for producing the Nigerian passport, had done well given the prevailing circumstances, noting that the presidential directive to commence the production of passports locally by the Nigerian Security Printing and Minting (NSPM) was a welcome development.

He, however, recommended that a proper exit plan be implemented for a smooth handover from the foreign firm to prevent any breach of contract and production process.

Irris Smart managing director Yinker Fisher said before the advent of the e-passport system, the Nigerian passport was marred with embarrassing irregularities and inconsistency under the watch of NSPM.

According to him, due to a lack of capacity, NSPM outsourced the process to three companies, leading to many irregularities, including passport colour and numbers.

(NAN)