For the first time in its 62-year history, the Nigeria Immigration Service (NIS) can now produce 4,000 to 5,000 passports within five hours, thanks to new centralized infrastructure, according to Minister of Interior, Olubunmi Tunji-Ojo.
The minister made this known on Thursday after inspecting the newly built Centralised Passport Personalisation Centre at the NIS Headquarters in Abuja.
Tunji-Ojo noted that the facility now enables the NIS to personalise over 1,000 passports per hour, a significant leap from the previous average of just 250 to 300 passports per day.
“This morning, alongside the Permanent Secretary, Dr Magdalene Ajani, and the Comptroller General of the Nigeria Immigration Service, Kemi Nanna Nandap, I inspected the newly built Centralised Passport Personalisation Centre at the NIS headquarters in Abuja,” Tunji-Ojo said.
He highlighted that the facility was built at no cost to the federal government, and represents a major milestone in Nigeria’s passport processing capabilities.
“To put it into perspective, long before this development, the Service could only record an average of 250 to 300 passports daily. But today, under five work hours, the Service can now deliver about 4,500 to 5,000 passports,” the minister added.
He also emphasized that the centralisation of passport production marks the end of decentralised operations across multiple centers globally — a historic development since the NIS was founded in 1963.
