Scarcity of passports

It has the trappings of another national scandal that the Nigeria Immigration Service [NIS] has run out of passport booklets, which calls into question government’s commitment to an important matter such as the exit and entry of people in and out of the country. Many applicants have been stranded in passport offices across the country. […]

It has the trappings of another national scandal that the Nigeria Immigration Service [NIS] has run out of passport booklets, which calls into question government’s commitment to an important matter such as the exit and entry of people in and out of the country. Many applicants have been stranded in passport offices across the country. Those that want to renew or obtain international passports are finding it extremely difficult because the booklets are no longer available in most states of the country.

In Kano, potential travellers including farmers who recorded a bumper harvest and were planning to perform the pilgrimage overwhelmed the NIS office in search of passports.  The crux of the matter which has led to the booklets’ scarcity is a hitch in the possible review of the contract between the Nigerian government and the company that produces travel documents for Nigerians.  Iris Smart Technology Nigeria Limited [ISTL], the sole supplier of Nigerian passports, had since last year demanded an upward review of the price Nigerians pay for passports due to the naira’s depreciation but the government did not approve the request. NIS also recommended to the government in March 2016 to increase the cost of obtaining passports but the government didn’t approve it. The company is said to have partially stopped supplying the 32-page passport since the middle of last year, causing the current shortage.

In 2007, the Federal Government signed a 10-year public private partnership with the Malaysian based firm Iris Smart Technology Limited [ISTL] “for production and supply of passport booklets and integration of passport offices.”  While the contract will expire in May 2017, it may be renewed in spite of threat to national security and abuse of due process trailing the implementation.  An Immigration official close to the deal said, “Iris deliberately refused to train NIS in management of the system. NIS officers can’t even conduct basic maintenance and repairs.”

IRIS is said to be an agro-allied and ICT firm, not a security printer. A security official said, “Several efforts and directives by the Federal Government for partnership between IRIS and Nigeria Security Printing and Minting Company [NSPMC] were ignored by the company, which instead sub-contracted the printing to other security printers in Malaysia and Ireland.” The Senate then invited Minister of Interior General Abdurrahman Dambazau (rtd) and four other companies engaged by NIS in a public private partnership arrangement over the years because of such problems.

The companies are Contec Nigeria Limited, Greater Washington Nigeria Limited, Network Solution and Investment Limited and Iris Smart Technologies. However, neither Dambazau nor the firms went to the Senate on April 6, as expected.

The government should make the Nigerian Security Printing and Minting work so that it prints sensitive government documents. As it is, even our currency is printed abroad. Perhaps unlike currency, it should irk any sensitive government that its documents are printed by a foreign company, opening itself to security risk, fraudsters and blackmail. It is remarkable that government contracted out passport printing for ten years and made no plan to take it over even after that period.  

Now the shortage of the passport booklets is affecting travels, hampering students and businesses. There is also poor planning and administrative lapse concerning the contract between IRIS and the government which should have been sorted out by now. Corruption has already stepped in where applicants in NIS’ Gwagwalada office said they were asked to pay N40,000 for a 64-page passport, which officially costs N20,000 while the 32-page passport costs N15,000. The 64-page passport was introduced in 2014 for frequent travellers but due to the shortage of the 32-page one they were advised to apply for it, which opens another racket since people are desperate.

We condemn the handling of Nigeria’s sensitive documents by foreign firms and we call for the overhaul of the system to make things work. The NIS should engage Nigerian printers including the Mint to print our passports.