NIS orders passport offices to open on Saturdays

The Nigeria Immigration Service (NIS) has directed passport offices across the country to work on Saturdays to clear the backlog of passport applications.

This is contained in a statement made available by the service's public relations officer, Mr. Tony Akuneme, in Abuja on Saturday.

Akuneme said that the Comptroller-General, Mr. Isa Jere, who gave the directive, also approved the deployment of passport controllers to Ondo and Ekiti states.

He said the directive was to enable the service to reduce the backlog occasioned by the 2020 and 2021 prolonged lockdown due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

"The C-G has directed that Passport offices with a high volume of pending applications work on Saturdays across the country."

"The period for this exercise is expected to be every Saturday commencing from Dec. 3, 2022 to Jan. 28, 2023 between the period of 10 am to 2 pm.

"This is to enhance our service delivery to our esteemed clients."

"The Saturday preceding the Christmas and New Year holidays are exempted," he said.

The spokesman said passport offices that fall within this category should contact him by Monday for further details.

Akuneme reiterated the resolve of the C-G to make passport services available and stress-free to the traveling public, especially during the festive season.