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Nigerians who recently visited the Nigeria Immigration Service, Passport Office, Ikoyi have shared their various testimonies as to how receptive the new administration has been to their needs and how the transformation going on in the environment will bring about further transformations in other passport offices across Nigeria.
A visit by BusinessDay to Ikoyi passport office last week showed that the passport office which was an epitome of disorderliness has totally changed. One will wonder at
the orderliness, the cleanliness and how immigration officers moved purposefully and busily in their daily call of duty. Gone are the days of confusion and disharmony in the working environment.
One would also wonder as to how Segun Adegoke, the new Passport Control Officer, has succeeded in sweeping out most the thugs who paraded the building as though they were staff, only to extort applicants who either came to renew their passports or process new passports.
“Before now, the thought of coming to the passport office to renew my passport was a nightmare because of the amount of thugs that would keep pestering you for one thing or another, all in the name of helping you make the process much easier. I was also worried about the long queues I’ll have to join to process my passport, which could take the whole day,” Titilayo, a woman who came to renew her passport told BusinessDay.
According to her, the sad narrative has changed now as the process now seems to be seamless and quite orderly unlike the way it used to be.
Another applicant who craved anonymity told BusinessDay that before now, she would have to pay some officials extra amount to help her make the process of collection much faster but she was amazed to come last week and everything was done much faster than she expected without having to pay anyone any extra fee.
This drastic change has therefore attracted the commendation from Mohammed Babandede, the Comptroller General of Immigration.
“Most of the highly placed people in society visit the Passport office at very short notice and would want to process and collect their passports within the shortest time possible. We make bold to say that their expectation have most times been met and in line with our sincere desire to be proactive as well as professional in our service delivery since Adegoke took over,” an Immigration official said.
BusinessDay’s checks show that before now, the passport office was beset which challenges which include overstretched equipment due to pressure of work, inadequate backup for most of its equipment such as laminators, passport printer and cameras to continue operations each time there was any breakdown.
There was also problem of the archiving unit, which cannot accommodate the current level of production, forcing backlogs of the day’s work to be carried over, which does not make room for efficiency.
However the major challenge was the crowding. Nigerians seeking for new passports, renewal of old ones mill around all over the place with touts, racketeers and others to create chaotic that defied the past management of the Office.
However, there is respite for applicants now as Adegoke has begun to change the old narrative. Now people can walk to his office, no matter who they are, and make their request and get positive and immediate response. Some applicants have attested to the fact that he is now changing the attitude of the officers and men in the Passport Office, albeit with some resistance.
“It is obvious that the idea of security has moved away from the traditional state-centric approach to one that is people-oriented human security approach,” an official said.
Adegoke had also met with heads of the state liaison offices in Lagos and enjoined them to always identify and issue identification letters to those who come from their states to ensure that the letters are properly issued to only persons from their state.
He also said that effective collaboration with this group of government workers would assist in no small measures to reduce fake breeder documents in processing passports.
He has introduced mechanisms to ensure that business integrity processes are established and fostered. He has been able to install scanners at the gate to screen applicants and their bags; introduced community policing by and among traders and officers and he has also reached agreement with stakeholders for the provision of technical assistance where necessary.
Adegoke has also directed a bank operating in the premises with a container to establish a more befitting facility and provide seats for its customers in order to encourage orderliness and comfort of applicants that patronise the bank.
Ifeoma Okeke
