FG refutes the assertion of a lack of international passport booklets.

The federal government has refuted the assertion that there is a shortage of foreign passport booklets in Nigeria. At the fourth instalment of President Muhammadu Buhari Administration Scorecard 2015 2023 Series, which was hosted by the Ministry of Information and Culture, Minister of Interior Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola refuted this. Aregbesola further said that the government discontinued offering 24 hour passport services because of the illegal activity and shady dealings involved in it. He claimed that there are enough booklets for individuals who had applied for passports and had been or are now awaiting capture. The Minister also noted that different nations around the world issue passports in different ways, adding that Nigeria requires a minimum processing time of six weeks to allow the relevant authorities to do their work.to carry out diligent security checks. Aregbesola said Some criminalities had occurred before we came and that has affected the Nigerian psyche on passports. Passports are the most secure identity document of any nation. It is the document that the president of the country attests to its first page recommending the citizens for good consideration from whoever comes across them. So it is not just a document to play with. It is the symbol of the sovereignty of a nation. In America, it takes 15 weeks to process, in Britain it takes 13 weeks and in Japan a country that has the shortest period for passport processes in the world, one week I will not deny the fact that we do not have enough processing centres and we are working on that. Lagos and Abuja are so problematic because we have limited processing centres. Lagos has three processing centres whereas the state ought to have a minimum of 20 processing centres. We are working on a partnership with the private sector to provide only front office services where Nigerians can readily and easily do capturing for their passports while the main issuance will be for Immigration.