Christopher Oji
The Comptroller-General of the Nigeria Immigration Service (CGI), Mr. Muhammad Babandede, has declared that the new 10-year international passport booklet was not for dubious people.
He said the booklet would have one identity and not multiple identities as the applicant’s national identity and BVM must be captured on the passport.
Babandede, who made this disclosure yesterday when he visited the Immigration passport office in Ikoyi, Lagos, for the official launch of the facilities donated by five banks and other organisations, said hard times awaited dubious persons that used multiple identities.
“It is of great value because we did internal analysis and we still talked with other stakeholders, especially countries where we have no issuance office. The good news is that the passport is linked to your national identity card and BVN. It will be more tears for dubious people. It is very difficult to change your data once you obtain it. A lot of people go to Europe and America and declare different names to seek asylum. Some deliberately declare loss of passport for reasons best known to them. Those people will go to jail. We have 7,0000 unclaimed passports as at today.”
He also charged officers to be good ambassadors, warning them not to support illicit acts by Nigerians as well as foreigners who abuse Nigerians or commit crime.
The Immigration boss said legal action would be taken against any Lebanese, Chinese or other foreigners who mistreat Nigerians in their companies, because no law permits them to do so. According to him, the service would, next week, begin the registration of foreigners in Nigeria and with the exercise anyone who stays beyond the stipulated time would be punished accordingly. On the new passport, Babandede noted that the development was one of the nation’s greatest achievements since Independence.
“The new passport has a lot of values; it can last for a period of 10 years without peeling. The new passport will be linked with the National Identification Number, which is linked with the BVN.”
He also hinted that the NIS would soon open a VIP section, which will take care of some important dignitaries in the country at a given cost.
“We are also working on opening passport offices in Manchester and other countries because of the London incident where a Nigerian went gaga destroying five vehicles.
“The service is working effortlessly to improve our service to the public, but Nigerians should also learn to do without violence,” he said.