The Passport Control Officer (PCO) in charge of the Ikoyi passport office of the Nigerian Immigration Service (NIS) in Lagos, Olugbenga Ayegbusi, on Tuesday urged applicants to process their international passports without involving racketeers.

Mr Ayegbusi said this in an interview in Lagos, noting that it was a wrong perception that getting the document or renewing it at passport offices was very difficult.

“Despite the extensive awareness embarked on by NIS on a passport application and its process, some Nigerians still patronise racketeers to process their passports which wouldn’t work out mostly,” he said.

Mr Ayegbusi said if an applicant followed the normal procedure, he could get the document.

The PCO clarified that reasons that could cause a delay in obtaining the document had to do with contradictory information provided by applicants, among others.

“Factors that contribute to delay in passport process include disparities in date of birth, names, National Identification Number (NIN), among others,” he said.

Mr Ayegbusi reassured that NIS was working assiduously to meet its mandates.

“This is evidenced by the recent directive of Comptroller-General (CG) of the Nigerian Immigration Service (CGIS), Mr Idris Jere, that all passport offices in the country should embark on Saturday service.

“It is a special arrangement to ramp up passport production.

“Passport Offices, from December 3 to January 28, 2023, will open between 10:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. to speed up passport production in furtherance of steps to clear the backlog of applications,” he said.

(NAN)