Nigerians in diaspora have been assured by the Ministry of Foreign affairs that passports will be soon be delivered to their doorsteps via courier services.
This would come as a massive relive to Nigerians abroad who normally go through excruciating stress to visit the missions for passport issuance and renewal. Gabriel Aduda, the Permanent Secretary of the Ministry, stated that they were in active discussions with courier companies for the pilot phase of the scheme.
“We have started with a new innovation and we are trying to keep Nigerians from travelling to missions for passport renewal,” he said.
“We are already talking with some courier companies that will pick passports to the applicants’ doorsteps when they have made all the necessary payments and fill the forms online.
“We don’t want them to come to the missions anymore; it will be delivered to them and we have four consulates to pilot the innovation.”
Nigerians in diaspora had raised concerns relating to challenges faced in passport issuance and delivery. The permanent secretary admonished the Nigerian missions to engage in regular dialogue with Nigerians through town hall meetings. He stated that these meetings would validate the accountability of the Consulates.
Ambassador Aduda further touched on the backlog of passport issuance highlighting the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on the passport production. He noted there was once a backlog of around 19,000 passports in the UK mission in London and modalities are in place to ameliorate the situation.
