By Christian George
The Nigerian Immigration Service has pointed out that one of the greatest factors that culminate in the shortage of Nigerian passports is not unconnected with the Central Bank of Nigeria’s policy on foreign exchange regulation.
This was made known by the service Comptroller-General, Idris Jere on Tuesday while appearing before an ad hoc committee of the House of Representatives investigating the production of passport booklets in Nigeria.
He explained that the major components for producing booklets are sourced from overseas, hence the need for foreign exchange from the CBN.
He informed the lawmakers that the lack of forex has affected the production of booklets.
“Foreign exchange regulation policy of the government and CBN’s refusal to grant access to forex for importation of the passport booklet…we generate forex from the sale of passport but we do not have access to buy the same booklet and that is a challenge for NIS.
“The factors responsible for the scarcity of passports include the inability to set up passport producing factory in Nigeria as its production is done abroad,” he said.
Premium Times reported that on the directive by the president that booklets should be produced by the Nigeria Security Printing and Minting PLC. Mr Jere recommended that a proper exit plan be put in place for a smooth handover from Irris Smart Tech to prevent any breach of contract and production process.
Speaking earlier, the CEO of Irris Smart Technology Ltd, Yinker Fisher, confirmed that forex had impeded the production of booklets.
However, Nigerians are facing difficulties in getting their passport after capture.
Because of this, Nigerians within and in the diaspora spend months to receive their passport after application.
