New Way to Renew Passports Coming to Four Nigerian States

Olubunmi Tunji-Ojo, Nigeria’s Minister of Interior, announced on Arise TV that a new system for renewing passports without visiting an office will start in January.

It will begin in Lagos, Abuja, Rivers, and Kano states. This new method was supposed to start in December across Nigeria but got delayed.

This system is already working in Canada and will soon be available for Nigerians living in the U.S., UK, Italy, and France.

Why Start Slow?

Tunji-Ojo explained that starting slowly in a few places first helps avoid problems that could happen if they tried to start everywhere at once.

“When you start a big project everywhere at the same time, it can cause big problems and stop it from working well,” he said.

Canada was the first place to try this new system. “We started in Canada to make sure it works well before we bring it to more places,” he added.

The minister said there were some issues at first in Canada, but they have fixed them. He believes that once everything is working perfectly, it will be a big success that Nigerians can always be proud of.

What’s Happening Now?

The Nigeria Immigration Service (NIS) first talked about this new system in October, planning to start in Canada and Nigeria on November 1. While it’s working in Canada, people in Nigeria are still waiting to use it.

The NIS app is on the Google Play Store, but many in Nigeria say they can’t finish signing up, probably because it’s not fully set up yet.

This new system should make renewing passports easier by letting people do it from home, without going to an office.