The federal government printed and distributed 1,350,000 passport booklets in 2021, the Minister of Interior, Mr Rauf Aregbesola, has confirmed.
The minister spoke at a Lagos Business School, LBS, Forum themed, “Nigeria in Challenging Times: The Contributions of the Ministry of Interior and Opportunities for Private Sector Participation,”
The virtual event was part of LBS Public Sector Engagement designed to promote more public-private sector dialogue and partnership to enhance Nigeria’s inclusive and sustainable economic growth and development.
Providing an update on passports issued to date, Aregbesola said: “1,350,000 passport booklets were produced and distributed worldwide as at December 31, 2021, against 764,293 booklets in 2020.”
The minister said there is increasing demand for passports, which is mounting pressure on processing structure and resources, saying “The current experience will soon be a thing of the past. We are working very hard to reform the passport application and issuance process.
This reform is going to be a continuous process. We want to significantly enhance the integrity of the Nigerian passport by ensuring that non-Nigerians are not able to obtain it. We also want to bring passport service closer to the people as much as possible and eliminate touting and corruption in the process.”
On recent attacks on correctional facilities in the country, he said the ministry was doing everything possible to arrest escapees and would soon launch a task force for this purpose.