Applicants stranded in Nigeria as scarcity of passport booklets persists
…FG allegedly owes technical partners millions of dollars
Passport applicants in the last six months have been stranded in Nigeria and unable to travel outside the country as a result of scarcity of booklets to produce the international travel document. In Lagos and Abuja, the Federal Capital Territory, many applicants have been waiting for months for their passports, which they had applied for, paid for and had also, been captured in the database, but are unable to obtain their passports because booklets are scarce. Some people have missed out on opportunities such as study scholarships, medicals, child delivery, business engagements and investment opportunities, amongst others while waiting to obtain their passports. Businessday’s findings show that passports are currently scarce because the government owes its technical partners abroad huge debts running into millions of dollars. The Ministry of Interior has a Public-private Partnership (PPP) agreement with a foreign company, Irish Technologies, which produces the enhanced e-passport, but it has refused to supply the product due to the alleged huge debts. Businessday’s visit to Ikoyi passport office, the busiest passport office in Lagos on Tuesday morning, showed a long queue of angry and worried applicants waiting to obtain their passports, many of whom applied for passports for three months or more. An applicant who identified himself as Tunde told Businessday that in the last three months, he visits Ikoyi passport office twice every week, yet, passport officials keep giving the same excuse that there are no booklets. “It is a hopeless situation here. In February, I applied for a 32-page, five-year validity passport and I was told this category was not available. Because I was pressed for time and needed to leave the country in April, I applied for a 64-page five-year validity passport which cost me over double the amount for the initial option. Sadly, up till now, I haven’t received the passport. “I am so frustrated with this country and the situation. I have had to cancel my flights and my studies in the United States have resumed while I wait here hoping a miracle would happen and my passport would be issued to me,” Tunde lamented. Pascal Onyeka, said his friend who is critically ill missed his hospital appointment in Atlanta, US because his passport booklet was not ready at the time he was supposed to travel. “After paying about N80,000, as against the official price of N32,000, my friend did not get his passport in time. He missed his hospital appointment date and has to book another date,” Onyeka disclosed. Industry watchers say Nigeria would have had much more issues on its hand if people were travelling as they did during pre-covid era, as people currently only travel when it is very necessary.