The Senate has asked its Committee on the Interior to conduct an urgent investigation into the circumstances that have caused the Nigerian Immigration Services to postpone the issuing and renewal of the Nigerian passport.
The Upper Chamber also directed the committee to investigate the contract award for passport production and report back to it within two weeks with the results of its probe.
The Senate resolution came after the Nigerian Immigration Services adopted a motion on the “Delay in issuance, renewal of Nigeria International Passport” in plenary on Tuesday, which was sponsored by Senator Uche Ekwunife of Anambra Central.
In her lead discussion, Ekwunife stated that the NIS’s delay in renewing Nigeria’s passport was causing unfathomable troubles for Nigerians who needed to travel out of the country or return to the country.
According to Ekwunife, new applicants and those renewing their passports currently spend three to six months processing their applications at Nigerian Immigration Services offices and Nigerian embassies abroad.
Similarly, Gershom Bassey (PDP-Cross-River), who seconded the resolution, stated that every Nigerian has the right to a passport.
He expressed concern that the idea of delaying passport issuing was becoming a source of contention and was not in the best interests of Nigerians.
Biodun Olujumi (PDP-Ekiti) agreed with her colleagues, saying the motion was timely and that it was critical to tackle the issue because passports were not granted within two to three days in the past.
She said it was humiliating for Nigerians to have to wait six to eight months for their passports to be issued.
However, Adamu Bulkachuwa (PDP-Bauchi) said the motion was too late because the matter should have been brought before the Senate earlier.
After his biometric exercise, he claims it took him five weeks to receive his passport.
In its other resolution on the proposal, the Senate also directed its committee to probe the contract award for passport printing.
The Interior Committee was asked to report the results of its probe to the House within two weeks.
