The Nigeria Immigration Service (NIS) has provided an updated report on the clearance of passports as of September 27, 2023, according to information obtained by Naija News.

The Service discloses that a total of 190,749 passports have been cleared. This announcement follows a directive from the Minister of Interior, Olubunmi Tunji-Ojo, on September 7, urging the NIS to address the backlog of passports.

The minister emphasized that this initiative is part of his commitment to eliminating obstacles in passport acquisition across the country.

In a recent update from the Minister's office in Abuja, it is revealed that the NIS currently has 13,583 pending applications. Notably, this figure excludes applications submitted within the past four weeks, as immigration offices nationwide continue to process renewals of expired passports and handle new applications daily.

According to The Nation, the minister has pledged to closely monitor NIS operations to prevent the recurrence of application backlogs caused by deliberate human actions. He expressed determination to minimize human interactions in the processes, aiming to combat corruption, and assured the implementation of technology to expedite passport procurement procedures.