Olubunmi Tunji-Ojo, the minister of interior, says the recent upward review of Nigerian passport fees to N100,000 and N200,000 would ensure timely delivery of passport and eliminate corruption.
Tunji-Ojo spoke in Abuja during the ministry of interior mid-tenure performance retreat held on Thursday.
“Our target is very clear: within one week of enrolment, every Nigerian should have their passport in hand. Not just delivering quickly but delivering quality passports that reflect our integrity as a nation,” he said.
The minister said the new system was designed to eliminate long delays and extortion that once forced citizens to wait up to seven months or pay as much as N200,000 to fast-track processing.
“The system that we inherited that had six months backlog which we were able to clear in two and a half weeks. Nigerians will apply for passports and wait endlessly or be asked to pay hundreds of thousands of naira.
“My own daughter had that bad experience. Even when I was chairman of the House Committee on NDDC, my daughter wanted passport, it was a problem. I had to pay hundreds of thousands to be able to get a passport for my daughter, a 12-year-old girl. That era is over.”
The minister disclosed that the centralised personalisation centre, the largest in Africa, would ensure faster processing and tighter security.
“With this facility, we can print five times more passports than we currently need. Once you enrol, it doesn’t take us more than 24 hours to vet. Printing capacity is no longer our problem,” he explained.
As part of the reforms, Tunji-Ojo announced that Passport Control Officers will no longer have the power to approve or delay applications.
“Some PCOs had so much power that they could decide not to approve or not to print a passport until they were settled. That abuse of power ends now,” he declared.
According to him, centralising the approval process would curb corruption and restore credibility to Nigeria’s travel documents.
“We realised that the best way to cut corruption is to remove human contact to the barest minimum. Passport approval will no longer rest with PCOs. My responsibility is not for them to like me — it is to deliver efficiency. Let Nigerians be happy,” he said.
He added that the reforms will also protect the integrity of Nigeria’s passport.
“My responsibility is not just to make passports available, but to ensure that anybody carrying it is a Nigerian. If you are not a Nigerian, you cannot carry it. It’s about our national integrity.”
He recalled how foreigners once procured Nigerian passports illegally citing past abuses.
“In one incident, a Ugandan woman carrying a Nigerian passport was arrested at Lagos Airport after paying $1,000 to procure it. That cannot continue. Our passport must remain a true symbol of Nigerian identity,” the minister stressed.
