SARAKI TASKS IMMIGRATION BOSS ON AVAILABILITY OF PASSPORT BOOKLETS

President of the Senate, Dr. Abubakar Bukola Saraki, on
Monday, urged the authorities of the Nigeria Immigration
Service to work to ensure the availability of the international
passport in view of the hardships often encountered by
Nigerians who daily apply for the document.
Saraki who gave the charge while commissioning a new
passport office at the National Assembly, described as
worrisome a situation where Nigerians who apply for
international passports have to wait for a long time before the
passports are delivered to them.
The President of the Senate, according to a statement by his
Chief Press Secretary, Sanni Onogu, however lauded the
Comptroller General of the Nigeria Immigration Service,
Muhammad Babandede, for the “good initiative” of locating a
passport office at the National Assembly.
Saraki noted that the establishment of the passport office at
the National Assembly “will help to further strengthen the
relationship between the legislative arm of government and
the executive.”
“Be that as it may, I believe that what is important to us as we
get to understand their challenges is the concern we have as
representatives of the people over the unavailability of
passports where Nigerians have to wait a long time for
passports to be delivered to them and the efficiency of it too,”
he added.
“I hope that the Comptroller General of Immigration will work
to see how we can improve on this so that Nigerians can have
their passports as at when due,” Saraki said. “I have traveled
to a few countries and one of the complaints we get is the
issue of unavailability of passport booklets.”
He commended the CG of of NIS for the initiative and would
continue to support the agency to improve on its services and
ensuring that adequate passports are available for Nigerians
who need them.
“We will continue to support you to see what we can do in
improving your efficiency and making the passport booklets
readily available to Nigerians as at when they need passport
renewal,” Saraki said.
On his part, the Comptroller-General of the Nigeria
Immigration Service, Muhammad Babandede, thanked the
President of the Senate for commissioning the centre, an
initiative he said is meant to further strengthen the good
relations between the executive and the legislative arms of
government.
“Now that the Senate President has commissioned this
Passport Office, it will now be easier for members of the
National Assembly to get their passports issued or renewed.
They no longer need to come to our office along the Abuja
Airport Road for that,” Babandede said.