The Nigeria Immigration Service (NIS) says there are 180 uncollected International passports in its Ilorin office.
The Controller of NIS in Kwara, Mr. Aminu Shamsuddin, confirmed this in an interview with the media on Friday in Ilorin.
Shamsuddin explained that most of the uncollected passports belonged to people that did not reside in Kwara, adding that they found it difficult to create time to collect their documents.
He said that some people however were afraid to visit the office because of the procedure of activating their passports, which involved thumb printing to show the full details of the owner.
“Some people are so busy to create time and come for collection, thereby prefer to send someone, which is not allowed, because of the importance of the document.
“All applicants of international passports must apply by themselves, to prevent spelling errors and they must be present for biometric capturing and collection.
“The whole procedure has changed, it now requires applying online, through the Immigration website, then visiting state office for capturing and collection,“ he said.
Shamsuddin however said that all the people that were yet to collect their passports had been contacted through the phone numbers they filled in their application forms and he believed that they would turn up.
“Each time we call the applicants, they usually give the excuse that they do not have time to come for collection, but promised to come soon.
“I believe that in three weeks' time, more than half of the passports would have been collected by their owners,” he said.
Shamsuddin explained that an international passport is beyond the traveling purpose and urged Nigerians to process theirs, for means of identification, opening a bank account, guarantor purposes, acquiring a loan, and much more.
He said that the NIS in the state would upscale its sensitization program by visiting higher institutions, and media houses and distributing pamphlets in order to create awareness of the need for citizens to acquire international Passports.
