ZIK GBEMRE FROWNS AT AREGBESOLA’S FALSE CLAIM ABOUT NOT HAVING SHORTAGE OF NIGERIAN PASSPORT BOOKLETS

How can the Minister come out to say that there are no shortages of Nigerian Passport booklets amid the sharp practices by racketeers.

 How come the Nigerian Security Printing and Minting Company Ltd not be directed to start printing these passports in their abundance?

With regards to recent reports that the Minister of Interior, Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola, has dismissed reports of shortage of Nigerian Passport booklets as a challenge against adequate and timely issuance of the Passports, let the Minister be reminded that Nigerians are not convinced, and neither will they be fooled to believe such claims by the Minister. Especially in the face of the sharp practices created by racketeers, which have made getting the Nigerian Passport to become a nightmare experience.

How can the said Minister come out publicly to say that there are no shortages of Nigerian Passports booklets? All that talk by the Minister that Lagos and Port Harcourt offices of the Nigerian Immigration Service (NIS), alone had combined stock of 40,000 booklets, does not hold any water, nor does it justify his claims. What are 40,000 booklets among the millions of Nigerians that are desirous to obtain new or renewed Passports? That is like a drop of water in an ocean.

It is even appalling, and a big shame to us as a nation that the subject of the shortage of Nigerian passport booklets has become an issue. Must everything be made an issue and problem in Nigeria?

Is it everything that the Nigerian common man would have to lobby to get into this country? We practically lobby to get everything in the country. We lobby to buy fuel – to the point that artificial scarcity is often created just to ensure that there is an increase in the prices of fuels. We lobby to get road construction executed by those whose duty it is in the first place. We even beg to be given electricity supply by those authorized to do so. Nigerians beg to have access to good drinking water. And the list goes on. The common Nigerians have been turned into ‘professional beggars’ by those in Government, Institutions of Government and places of authority.

If we consider this issue carefully, what are the Nigerian Passport booklets that the Nigerian Security Printing and Minting Company Ltd (NSPM), which was established by the Federal Government of Nigeria in 1963, cannot print? If the NSPM can print the Nigerian Naira, and postal orders, how come they are not made to print Nigerian passports, and print them in abundance?

It is the right of any Nigerian who so desires, to easily obtain a Nigerian passport. It is a Nigerian citizen’s legal identity document, which we believe that whoever needs it, should easily get without hassle.

All that noise being made by Aregbesola, that his Ministry will bring the weight of the law on racketeers, within and outside the NIS, who are creating difficulties for applicants, does not amount to anything tangible at the end of the day. How old is this government? How long has the Minister been in that position? Yet these problems have persisted unabated. In other words, he has not said anything new than usual.

It is evident to all that President Muhammadu Buhari-led administration has made everything difficult for Nigerians. This problem has nothing to do with the immigration officers that are responsible for issuing Nigerian passports.

Let it be reiterated here that the said shortage of Nigerian passport booklets is caused by the Minister of Interior and President Buhari, both of whom have deliberately refused, and do not see the need to ask/direct the NSPM to print Nigerian passports booklets, and make them abundantly available to the Immigration officers who are responsible for issuing them to the public. They should own up to their responsibilities and address this issue and save Nigerians from this “international embarrassment.”

I, therefore, urge that the Minister of Interior and President Buhari should promptly direct the Nigerian Security Printing and Minting Company Ltd. (NSPMC) to start printing the Nigerian passport booklets in abundance. To make Nigerian passports available in large numbers to all at every immigration issuing office in Nigeria.

What is in the printing of the Nigerian passport booklets that cannot be printed in abundance? As far as we are concerned, President Buhari should urgently terminate the existing contracts for the printing of Nigerian Passports by foreign companies in foreign countries. And then allow NSPM to do the printing. These are part of what constitutes capital flight in the country.

I was reliably informed that former President Olusegun Obasanjo was the one who gave the contracts for the printing of Nigerian passports to foreign companies in foreign countries. If that is the case, why can’t President Buhari terminate such contracts, and then engage the NSPM to start the printing of Nigerian passports in Nigeria?

What is the Nigerian Content development all about if Nigeria can’t print its national passports? What a shame of a nation. I ask that this issue be given the needed attention as suggested.

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