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Minister of Interior, Olubunmi Tunji-Ojo, on Tuesday paid an unannounced visit to the Nigerian Immigration Service passport office in Gwagwalada, Abuja, where he criticised delays in passport processing.
The minister inspected the VIP and children’s section of the office and spoke with immigration officers and passport applicants.
In the viral video, Tunji-Ojo questioned why people were still waiting long after the office was meant to start work.
Tunji-Ojo warned applicants not to pay any money beyond official passport fees, noting that Nigerians had already paid in full for passport services.
“I don’t want to hear that you are collecting money for diesel or paper,” Tunji-Ojo said.
“Nigerians have paid for their passports completely. Serve them diligently.”
He also questioned why only a small number of applicants had been attended to several hours after opening time, despite the section being designated for faster processing.
“So it means that by 9:30 am, I expect to see at least one or two applicants here. Because I can see some people waiting downstairs, and our responsibility is to be efficient,” the minister said.
Tunji-Ojo also questioned the slow pace of enrolment and biometric capture, saying the process should take only a few minutes per applicant.
“How long does it take to do an enrolment? Three minutes. So three times seven, that is twenty-one minutes,” he said.
Immigration officers told the minister that although the office was supposed to open by 8am, work did not start until around 9 am, when the generator was switched on.
“We are supposed to open by eight,” an official said, explaining that power was put on after applicants arrived.
The minister criticised the practice of completing enrolment for everyone before starting biometric capture. He said both should be done simultaneously to reduce waiting time.
“It doesn’t make sense to me. People are there waiting,” he said. “Some of these people still need to go to work. Some of these people have other things to do.”
“So why must you wait until you enrol everybody before you do capturing?”
Tunji-Ojo described the delays as unacceptable.
“You are wasting people’s precious time. Time is money. Time is expensive. It is unacceptable,” he said.
He also criticised the poor use of the VIP and children’s sections, noting that applicants from other areas could have been sent there to reduce crowding.
“It will not cost you anything if you use this place for them,” he said.
The minister said passport offices must treat everyone fairly and work efficiently.
“Nigeria has no VIP. When you wear this uniform, you wear a uniform of sacrifice. You are here to work for the people,” he said.
