Misplaced your passport? You don’t have to go to Abuja again

Muhammad Babandede, the new comptroller-general of the Nigeria immigration service (NIS), says he has authorised state commands to replace lost passports, and also commence change of name due to marriage.


Both exercises were hitherto done in Abuja.

Babandede also pledged to decentralise and eliminate corruption at all passport offices in the country, saying reorganisation of the passport offices, was part of the sweeping reforms that has been embarked on by his administration.
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The immigration boss disclosed this at a programme in Abuja  on Thursday.

“Approval for replacement of lost passports shall henceforth be given by state comptrollers after online vetting and processing of application at the Passport Division in the Service’s headquarters,” he said.

“The minister of interior, Rtd Lt.-Gen. Abdulrahman Dambazau has tasked me to embark on this reform.

“We have taken stock of previous reforms, so what we are doing now is to decentralise the process, so that everybody do not need to come to Abuja for their passport.

“You know this creates tension in the system and even encourages corruption because of the pressure.”Continue Reading