The Senate has mandated the Committees on Interior and
Foreign Affairs to engage Ministers, the Comptroller General of immigration,
Ambassadors and Consular Officers to introduce measures to make it easy for
Nigerians abroad to renew their passports.
The decision was reached after the consideration of a motion
titled: “Urgent need to remove the difficulty faced by Nigerians outside of the
shores of Nigeria in renewing their Passport”.
The sponsor, Senator Matthew Urhoghide (PDP – Edo South),
condemned the hardship faced by Nigerians in renewing their travel documents.
The lawmaker said the worst hit are nationals in Austria,
Canada, Italy, United Kingdom and United States of America.
Urhoghide noted that in the U.S. there are only four centers
for passport renewal – Atlanta, California, New York and Washington D.C.
“Applicants spend months trying to renew expired passports.
The only ones who get speedy attention are those that pay to the middlemen or
directly to the embassy officials,” he said.
The Public Accounts Committee Chairman decried the situation
where Nigerians are made to physically present at renewal centers.
Citing capture as the reason given by the Immigration
Service, Urhoghide said it was not tenable since applicants’ bio-data are
already in the database.
The Senator lamented that at the renewal centers, there
exist middlemen who are either working with or for officials of the Nigerian
Embassies.
“This is especially true of renewal centers in the U.S. and
Italy; videos of this practice are awash on social media. These middlemen
demand money from Nigerians to book a capture (interview) date,” he added.
Urhoghide decried how visa issuance, passport renewal and
several other services rendered by the Nigerian Embassies have turned into
rackets by officials and their foreign partners.
“Payment for the renewal is done with credit/debit cards of
the holder or owner only for himself or herself. Payment for the children or
any other family member is done using money order and this money order has to
be sent by post. This has recorded missing money orders.”
Urhoghide added that the federal officials cannot feign
ignorance of the challenges faced by citizens, the existence of middlemen and
the inadequacy of renewal centers.
In a resolution, the Senate directed relevant ministries and
agencies to increase the number of centers where passports can be renewed
abroad, stop the use of middlemen and periodically assess the activities of
foreign missions.
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