SHORTAGE OF PASSPORT BOOKLETS, INTERIOR MINISTER DEBUNKS CLAIMS .... Says Patronizing Touts And Racketeers In Acquiring Passport Would Only Lead To Delay And Extortion Of Prospective Applicants.

Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola
Interior Affairs Minister

"No Shortage of Passport booklet anywhere in the world." Aregbesola.

.... Charges Idris Jere to find a lasting solution to the difficulties Nigerians go through in the issuance of passport.

The Minister of Interior Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola, and also Chairman, Civil Defence, Fire and Immigration Service Board, declared that there is no shortage of passport booklet anywhere in the world, hence that of Nigeria should not be different.

The Minister made the declaration today in Abuja, while decorating the newly recognized acting Comptroller General of the Nigerian Immigration Service, Alhaji Idris Isa Jere, where he emphatically stated that passport booklet where not in short supply world over.

The Honourable Minister, in a statement issued and signed by Afonja Fatai Afolabi, Deputy Director, Press and Public Relations Department of the Ministry, urged Nigerians, both home and in diaspora to always follow the right channel in the process of acquiring international passport through the available online platform.

He further reiterated that patronising touts and racketeers in acquiring passport would only lead to delays and extortion of prospective applicants.

Aregbesola, charged Idris Jere to find a lasting solution to the difficulties Nigerians go through in the issuance of passport, stressing that President Muhammadu Buhari was concerned on the difficulties Nigerians in diaspora faced in obtaining Nigerian passport.

He said "your new rank comes with more responsibilities, as such you must find a lasting solution in the issuance of passport, there by making the process seamless.

Earlier his remarks, the Permanent Secretary Dr. Shuaib Belgore, represented by Director Citizenship and Business, Mrs. Moremi-Soyinka  Onijala commended the Acting CG Immigration service for his tenacity and dedication to service, which she said earned him the feat. She further encouraged him to sustain the tempo he was known with in the discharge of the tasks that will come with the new rank.

Dignitaries present at the event were the Secretary of the Board, Hajiya Aisha Rufa'i and honourable commissioners for the Board, Directors and staff of the Ministry and friends and well wishers of the newly decorated Acting CGI.