None availability of Nigerian passport booklets which hit the passport offices of Nigeria Immigration Services (NIS) both at home and abroad will by Monday, become a thing of the past.
This was disclosed by the Public Relations Officer of the Service, Mr. Ekpedeme King during a telephone chat with our correspondent.
King who however denied scarcity of passport booklets and any change in the official price of the travel document, said, there was a shortfall in supply which the government has addressed without any change in the official price.
“There was never a time Nigeria Immigration Service experienced scarcity of passport booklets in any of the passport office either in country or in our missions abroad. What happened was a shortfall in the supply of the 32 page booklets which we experienced for some days and that has been addressed. We have enough of the 64 page booklets which are available to anyone who wanted to travel urgently.
“The Federal Government, in a prompt response to the development of the shortfall, ordered the supply of a large number of the 32 page booklets which were received into our store at the headquarters yesterday November 15, 2016.
“We have directed every passport officer across the country and in our missions abroad to come forward for supplies which are on going. The only thing that may delay issuance of the booklets between today and Friday, is the stock taking processes. That is, receipt into the stores and issue out. But I can assure you that by next week everyone who applied for the 32 page passport booklet would have it without any delay,” he said.
It would be recalled that in the past few weeks, obtaining a page 32 booklet type of the Nigerian passports either as fresh or re-issue applicants, has been an uphill task for many Nigerian citizens both at home and abroad.
This period, the 32 page passport booklet is usually in high demand among Nigerian home and abroad, who want to travel during the yuletide season.
Realising that there was a shortfall in the supplies of the passport booklets meant for the non frequent travellers, some corrupt elements within the immigration service decided to hoard available stock, creating artificial scarcity and a black market racket in the system.
The booklets which is officially priced at N15, 000 excluding bank charges, were as at 12-00 noon on today sold to desperate travellers between N30,000 and N40,000 depending on the urgency of the international trip.
On the alleged increase in the prices of the booklets at passport offices across the nation, the service spokesperson who denied any increase in the prices of the booklets said, “despite the challenges of scarce foreign exchange the federal government faces to getting the booklets produced , the price of the booklets remains unchanged’”
He urged Nigerians to expose any official of the service caught in charging new outside the official price to be given appropriate sanctions.
“We implore the members of the public to take the bold move to identify and report any member of the staff of the immigration service engaging in imposing additional cost on them.
“Our officials wear a name tag; it is very easy to identify them by their names. Please report anyone giving you another price outside the official price of Nigerian passports,” he stated
