Nigeria’s Minister of Interior, Olubunmi Tunji-Ojo, unveiled at the Young Lawyers Forum’s leadership summit in Abuja that individuals from Chad, Cameroon, and Niger have been discovered holding Nigerian passports.
He emphasized, “The main issue as of today is not about availability. It is about preventing those who have no business having a Nigerian passport from owning one. We see Chadian, Cameroonian, and Nigeriens holding Nigerian passports.”
In response to this, Tunji-Ojo announced the implementation of a new verification process during passport acquisition to prevent such illegal activities.
Furthermore, he highlighted the efforts of the Nigerian Immigration Service in securing the nation’s borders, which are shared with four other countries, including two ECOWAS members.
He stated, “The security of the border is directly proportional to the security of a nation. There must be control over who comes in and who leaves our borders. This responsibility is the exclusive right of the Nigerian Immigration Service to safeguard our borders.”
Moreover, Tunji-Ojo mentioned that the National Identity Management Commission (NIMC) has successfully cleared a backlog of 2.4 million national identity cards. He said, “At NIMC, we were able to clear 2.4 million backlogs we met on the ground.”