The Minister of Interior, Dr. Olubunmi Tunji-Ojo, has revealed that the era of Passport Control Officers (PCOs) singlehandedly approving passports has come to an end as the government sets up a central approval hub to eliminate fraud and delays.
Speaking in Abuja on Thursday at the Sectoral Performance Review Retreat of the ministry, themed “From Plans to Results: Strengthening Institutional Performance in the Ministry of Interior,” Tunji-Ojo said the agencies under his supervision must become truly “front-facing” to deliver outcomes that touch citizens directly.
This, he said, will result in faster passport processing and data harmonisation to prison decongestion, fire service upgrades, and better security deployment.
Tunji-Ojo lamented corruption that had plagued the nation’s passport regime, recounting how a Ugandan citizen bought a Nigerian passport for $1,000 and used it to travel freely.
He said such cases embarrassed the country internationally and undermined the credibility of its travel documents.
“There was a time a Ugandan came into Nigeria and, without any rightful claim to citizenship, he bought a Nigerian passport for $1,000. He used that passport to travel. That is how bad the situation had become — when foreigners could purchase our passports like items on the shelf,” Tunji-Ojo said.
He explained that the practice was sustained by weak oversight and excessive discretion in the hands of Passport Control Officers (PCOs), which created room for racketeering. According to him, the ongoing reform, especially the plan to centralise passport approval, will end such abuses.
“The issue of passport approval, we will need to remove that power from PCOs if we want it to work. That is why we are setting up a central passport approval centre with well-trained officers working in shifts. This way, cases of racketeering and foreigners buying Nigerian passports will no longer be possible.
“We are setting up a passport approval centre. We will have about 200 officers that will be well-trained, they will do shifts — eight hours each,” he explained.
He stated that the ministry will no longer be judged by plans or policies on paper but by results that Nigerians can feel in their everyday lives.
Tunji-Ojo explained that the retreat was an important opportunity to take stock of the progress made so far, re-examine the challenges facing the ministry and its agencies, and develop strategies for achieving results that would be both measurable and visible to the public.
He said the Renewed Hope administration expects nothing less than a public service that is efficient, transparent, and effective, adding that the Ministry of Interior must lead the way in demonstrating that governance is not about promises but about outcomes that citizens can testify to.
He noted that the ministry is a critical gateway into Nigeria, from the immigration counters at the airports to correctional facilities, as well as the civil defence personnel stationed in communities, and the fire service units deployed across the country.
The ministry and its agencies, he said, constitute the frontline of service delivery.
The minister listed the ‘2025 High Impact Deliverables’ of the ministry to include reforms aimed at making international passport issuance and renewal faster, more transparent, and citizen-friendly.
He noted that the target is to significantly reduce the turnaround time for passport and visa processing, in line with the executive orders of the President on ease of doing business and promotion of tourism.
“My target… in one week after you enrol for your passport, you get your passport. That is where we are going, and that is the standard Nigerians should hold us to.
“With the new executive order, we are determined to cut down delays. Visa approval should not take more than 48 hours. That is our benchmark, because efficiency in visa processing is key for business and tourism.”
He also spoke of plans to harmonise all citizens’ data into a single national database, saying that the move would eliminate the inefficiencies and frustrations that arise from the multiplicity of identity verification systems currently in operation.
He stressed that data integration will improve citizen experience: “One of the things we spoke about when we were doing the High Impact Deliverables was the harmonisation of citizen data into a single national database. We must ensure the authentication and verification of NIN services across MDAs. This is crucial because the efforts to decongest custodial centres and even make passports seamless depend on the effective implementation of data harmonisation.
“Sometimes the government keeps doing whatever it’s doing without realising that the end result is for citizens to feel it. One of the legacies we want is for Nigerians to say: ‘Oh, while President Tinubu was president, our passports were issued in two days.’ That is the kind of impact data harmonisation and centralisation should make.”
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