By Abiemwense Moru
Abuja – The House of Representatives, on Thursday urged the Nigeria Immigration Service (NIS) to address e-passport scarcity and devise sustainable means to ensure its availability worldwide.
It directed its Committee on Interior to liaise with the Ministry of Interior and the Immigration Service to determine the cause of the scarcity and recommend ways of reversing the trend.
This followed a motion by Rep. Joseph Ayodeji (Lagos-APC), who decried the acute shortage of Nigerian passport booklets in recent times.
“It is causing a lot of hardships on citizens wishing to acquire passports, thus leading to long queues at immigration offices across the country, and increased patronage of touts who hang around Immigration offices.”
According to Ayodeji, the scarcity started in 2016 when the company producing the passport stopped supplying the 32-page booklets and demanded for an upward review of the price of the booklet.
“It cited increased cost of production due to low exchange rate of the Naira to Dollar, and the scarcity has persisted in spite of the assurances by the Nigerian Immigration Service that passport booklets are available.”
Contributing to the motion, Rep. Nnenna Ukeje-Elendu (Abia-PDP) assured that the issue would be resolved and said that the scarcity of the passport had to do with the manufacturers and suppliers.
Also, Rep. Johnson Oguma (Edo- APC) called for thorough investigation and lasting solutions to the scarcity.
“The Nigerian government should do everything possible to address this issue because the passport is the face of Nigeria abroad,” he said.
The motion was unanimously adopted by members when it was put to a voice vote by the Speaker, Mr Yakubu Dogara.
The house also mandated the Committee on Foreign Affairs to liaise with the Federal Ministry of Foreign Affairs to investigate the challenges being faced in procuring e-passport at Nigerian High Commissions and Embassies.
All the committees involved in the matter were directed to report back within three weeks.