ON Saturday, January 6, along with the Comptroller General of the Nigeria Immigration Service, Mrs Caroline Wura-Ola Adepoju, the Minister of Interior, Honourable (Dr) Olubunmi Tunji-Ojo, held a demo session with key stakeholders and development partners, presenting the automated passport application process set to be launched on Monday, January 8. During the session, the minister welcomed constructive criticisms to enhance and improve the system. The participants at the parley included the Chairman of the Nigerians in Diaspora Commission (NiDCOM), Hon. (Dr.) AbikeDabiri-Erewa; the International Organisation for Migration (IOM) represented by Stephen Matete and the Country Manager at Development Alternatives Incorporated; Dr. Joe Abah. They also included Tijjani Mohammad Musa, Founder of Kwandala Foundation; David Afolayan, co-founder of Technext; Akintunde Babatunde, Director of Programmes at the Centre for Journalism Innovation and Development; Lanre Lasisi, a journalist and community development practitioner; Samson Itodo, Founder of Yiaga Africa; Adeyemi Adewoye, a good governance Advocate; and Mukhtar Mudibbo, representing the Connected Development (CODE), among others.

Nigerians would recall that during his maiden familiarization visits to formations of the various Services under the Ministry of Interior on August 30, 2023 in Abuja, the minister had directed the Nigeria Immigration Service (NIS) to immediately dismantle all the bottlenecks hindering swift issuance of passport to Nigerians. Because the Nigerian public is not used to politicians keeping their word, the clearance of over 200,000 backlog of passport applications took the nation, and even a significant section of the international community, by storm. And almost as soon as Nigerians ushered in 2024, it became apparent that the minister many are now hailing as a talk-and-do personality had already decided to ignore his 2023 laurels and focus on the big picture of delivering an efficient and seamless passport application and issuance process. He expressed his resolve to see that the complete automation of passport applications commenced on January 8.

Again, he harped on the need to eliminate the pernicious age-long practice of herding married women to the NIS headquarters in Abuja regardless of their location across the country simply for the purpose of effecting a change of name on their passport. Speaking at a recent dinner with members of the Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu ABAT Media Centre and some social media influencers in Abuja, Tunji-Ojo described the act, rightly in my view, as “inhumane.” Hear him: “A woman gets married, changes her name, and then she has to come to Abuja all the way from say Kaura Namoda or Enugu just to come and effect a change of name in her passport. It is absurd. I can’t just figure it that you want to change just your name and you have to be in Abuja. I have asked the immigration people, is it that immigration people in Abuja have more than one head than those in the states?” Nigerians would definitely have been enthused by the minister’s declaration that the passport issue remains the least of his worries. The gist is that by March, the new passport reforms he is putting in place will ensure contactless biometrics enrolment to allow Nigerians to do their enrolments from their comfort zones. You really can’t beat that.

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Last year, Tunji-Ojo had promised Nigerians that the automation process was 99 percent complete and that when fully automated, Nigerians would only go to immigration centres for fingerprinting or biometric purposes. He had also added that the new system would enable users to upload their passport photographs and other supporting documents from the comfort of their homes. Speaking after inspecting the facilities of the Nigeria Immigration Service (NIS) in Abuja on Monday, Tunji-Ojo said the process would give Nigerians “a good feel, a sweet experience based on the renewed hope agenda of President Bola Tinubu”. He had added: “We are good to go live. We are starting the training and on January 8, the solution will be live and direct for Nigerians. We have been able to reduce human contact in passport acquisition to the minimum. This is coming ahead of the automation of the passport application process, which will begin on January 8, 2024, when Nigerians will be able to apply and complete their passport application process online without human contact.”

To be sure, Tunji-Ojo’s resolve to eliminate the undue stress and agony, not to talk of the national embarrassment and global opprobrium, associated with the passport system in Nigeria is rooted in the pragmatics of a new order, an abiding concern with changing the face of governance in Nigeria through the little things ignored over the years but having terrible effects on people’s perception about Nigeria. For perception, they say, is everything. If even governments in the world’s most developed climes are under pressure to operate more efficiently, it is extremely fitting for the Nigerian government to show that it is acutely aware of its duty to kick out the old order. It has long been recognized that digitization and automation enhance operational efficiency, reliability, accuracy, quality and customer satisfaction, in addition to eliminating unnecessary costs, errors and risks. Not many would be willing to debate the argument that the elimination of manual tasks will free up time so that NIS operatives can complete the work that matters most and cut down on the unnecessary tasks they were previously used to. Automation of the passport application and issuance processes offers increased reliability and enhances flexibility as passports can be literally applied for from anywhere.

Because the process is digitized, it is quite apparent that a passport applicant will not be subjected to the exhausting routine of visiting NIS offices for days on end. With the NIS and applicants fully invested in a digitized process, a significantly heavy amount of work can be done on the internet on both ends, and the progress of passport applications can be easily monitored. With this, Nigeria will inevitably join the list of countries with a responsive and reliable passport application process, an elixir for business, among other gains.

If before now people had to visit NIS offices for weeks and now they do so only when it is absolutely necessary, the corollary is that a better experience is fostered for both applicants and NIS workers, ultimately establishing the country as a place where things increasingly run well. There’ s no predicting just how this lofty example will impact the work of other agencies of the government. It is simply beautiful, exhilaratingly beautiful.

Salako is media consultant to the Minister of Interior

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by Femi Salako