Nigeria Immigration Service (NIS) has said it is contemplating the idea of issuing multiple standard international passports to high net-worth Nigerians who are frequent travelers to facilitate their business trips overseas.
This is just as the service will today officially roll out the 10-year security enhanced validity standard, official and diplomatic passports.
Besides, NIS said it will soon begin the registration of migrants to curtail activities of other nationals who engage in banditry, terrorism and other illegal activities across national borders.
Its Comptroller General (CGI) Muhammad Babandede, who spoke in Lagos, said the initiative followed pressure from businessmen and frequent travellers.
The CGI said the most affected persons are those with trapped passports at embassies and high commissions as they seek to get visas to travel to different countries while having many businesses to attend to at the same time.
He said issuance of multiple standard international passports would allow such businessmen and high net worth individuals to attend to different needs without the constraint of possessing a single passport.
But Babandede explained that the issuance of such passports would be subjected to rigorous scrutiny for individuals who do not pose security problems, and are not involved in narcotic or other nefarious activities.
The NIS chief also said there were over 70,000 international passports uncollected at the service’s passports offices nationwide.
He said the negative trend arose because some Nigerians would declare their passports missing in order to meet up with visa requirements at some embassies or high commissions.
According to him, other reasons for the high rate of uncollected passports are fraudulent declaration of lost passports by some Nigerians, either to escape justice or what he called irrational excuses.
Speaking at NIS Ikoyi passport Office in Lagos, where five financial institutions donated several social responsibility projects to the service, Babandede said the partnership with the private sector would assist the service to fill the gaps in infrastructure and render timeous services under transparent and customer-friendly consideration.
The Comptroller General said government had begun the registration of migrants to checkmate incessant cases of banditry and terrorism by some foreigners who enter the country through the land borders.
Mr Babandede said patrol units have been established at land borders to checkmate the activities of unscrupulous elements, who are poised to carry unauthorised activities.
The NIS chief also spoke of plans to engage private sector players to establish passport offices across countries where Nigeria does not have embassies and diplomatic relations to ease the challenges of getting vital documents for Nigerians.
The move, he said, was the fallout of the incident in London, where a Nigerian destroyed property at the country’s high commission because he could not collect his passport from the officials.
Babandede urged Nigerians to refrain from such conducts because they tarnish the image of the country.
He said: “Officers caught involved in infractions will be punished, in line with the provisions of the law. Non-Nigerians trying to get a Nigerian passport will be prosecuted.
“All immigration officers involved in illegal offences will be prosecuted. There is no immunity for corruption officers. Immigration officers that issue fake visa on arrival will be dismissed. We will apologise to the foreigner and the officer will be prosecuted.
“London is our busiest immigration outlet in Europe. The young man in London came after the timeline had lapsed. He started attacking people and destroying property, it is not right, he is tarnishing the image of Nigeria.
“He should be calm and have control over his social and emotional intelligence.
“When you apply, there should be a self-addressed envelope …to reduce the incidence in London. NIS has learnt lessons from that experience; it is an opportunity to learn to improve service.”
The Nation
