FG Launches New Passport Front Desk Office in Lagos

The Federal Government has launched another Nigeria Immigration Service (NIS) Passport Front Desk Office in Alimosho, Lagos State, as part of its strategy to make passport administration a seamless exercise for Nigerians.

NIS currently has three Front Desk Offices in Lagos, which are located in Ikoyi, Festac and Alausa.

But the State needs at least 13 Front Desk Offices to ease the pressure for Data Capturing in Ikoyi, Festac and Alausa.

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Speaking at the Commissioning of the NIS Front Desk Office in Alimosho on Monday, the Minister of Interior, Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola, said that the development is aimed at easing the ever-increasing pressure on the three existing Passport Control Offices domiciled in Lagos.

“We are also committed to expanding our Passport Issuance operations to bridge the shortage gap we face usually in urban centres like Lagos. It is this need that gave birth to the Alimosho Front Desk Office to ease the ever-increasing pressure on the three existing Passport Control Offices domiciled in Lagos,” a statement by the Media Adviser to the Minister quoted him as saying.

Aregbesola revealed that NIS is working hard and increasing its capacity to cope with the high demand of Passports, in spite of the challenges faced.

He said: “Applications have been increasing every year at unprecedented rate, due to the tendency of many Nigerians wanting to travel outside the country and those who want to use it as means of identification.
“Then there is ‘panic buying’ effect from those who wanted to obtain the passport because they heard some people (who probably went through touts) had difficulty obtaining theirs.

“But we have increased our capacity. Last year (2022), we produced 1.9 million passports, against the 1 million produced in 2021. This is about 80 per cent increase and it is unprecedented.”

The Interior Minister, however, explained that the Alimosho-office is mainly for passport application and collection of biometric data, and eventual issuance, and not for passport production.

Aregbesola also stressed the inevitability of the emergence of private partners to provide spaces for more front offices in Lagos, due to the funding challenge faced by the government, as this will reduce the application waiting period to one week.

“But due to funding challenge, the government may not be able to provide these desk offices. We will therefore need private partners that will provide the lounge. Their only involvement will be to provide the space. The offices will still be manned and operated by NIS personnel.

“We certainly need more of this in Lagos. This is because half of all passport applications are made in Lagos. We will therefore need not less than 15 of these front offices in Lagos alone, to be able to cut the application waiting period to one week,” he added.