Nigeria Faces Challenges with Passport Booklet Shortages

For more than a month, applicants for Nigerian passports have faced significant delays at home and abroad due to a nationwide shortage of passport booklets. Moreover, more than thousands of people have been affected, causing uncertainty and frustration among applicants who are eager to collect their travel documents. Although the Nigerian Immigration Service has not given an explicit reason for the shortage, the development is in contradiction to the Minister of Interior, Dr. Olubunmi Tunji-Ojo, assurance that there would not be such disruptions. The minister assured the public then that once an applicant applied for a passport, it would be delivered at the time required in the comfort of his or her house.

There has been an increased demand for Nigerian passports, with sources indicating that the applications are around 150,000 per day. The emigration rate from Nigeria has also been on the rise due to the poor economic situation in the country. Since 2019 and the start of 2023, 4.5 million passports had been issued. However, the demand that hit the Nigerian Immigration Services overstretched the necessary passports booklets to meet the demand.

On the other hand, the federal government has announced an increase in the prices of passports effective September 1, 2024. The 32-page passport booklet, which was initially going for N35000 will now go for N50000. The 64-page ticket, which initially went for N70000, will now sell at N100,000. The development comes at a time when the federal government plans to take over the passport operations from IRIS Smart Technology, which oversees the printing of Nigerian passports in another country. Moreover, Nigeria has already completed the establishment of the best data center in the world that will handle the domestic printing of passports. However, the development has become slow, and the current producer of data is producing booklets.

The further increase in the price of Nigerian passports and their shortage for the better part of the year has led to public grievances. According to the information, the shortage has caused several demonstrations by Nigerians working in the UK. Sources indicate that most of these people have experience delays over six months. Most of the people in the UK and those who are affected by the shortage of the passport in other parts of the world have also expressed concern about their details and information being under the custody of other countries. It poses a national security risk for the production of passports within the territory and outside the country.

The current and ongoing shortage of Nigerian passports is an indicator of poor management of essential services in the country. Moreover, it also a way of gauging how prepared the country is in taking over the production of passports. The completion of a global data center will solve an existing challenge associated with the neurons company that has been contracted to undertake the responsibility of printing the booklet. However, there are numerous challenges blocking the commissioning of the new data center. How soon the NIS will resolve these challenges and start printing passports in Nigeria is yet to be seen. The further increase in the cost of passports may also limit the ability of Nigerians to apply to local immobile because they cannot migrate due to high prices on passports.