The Nigerian Immigration Service (NIS) says it has, since 2020, processed no fewer than 148,000 passports and awaiting collection nationwide.
Anthony Akuneme, the Spokesman for the Nigerian Immigration Service (NIS), said this in Abuja on Saturday.
“We have precisely 148,000 uncollected passports nationwide from different locations.”
According to NIS statistics, Lagos State topped the list of unclaimed passports with 40,000, while Edo accounted for 24,000 unclaimed passports.
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Akuneme said that the NIS could not reach some of the owners because they use incorrect contact details at the point of registration.
He said the Comptroller-General, Isa Idris, had deployed a team of senior officers nationwide to reach the owners of the abandoned passports.
Akuneme also blamed third-party applicants as the cause of the build-up, saying over 70 per cent of the passport applicants did not apply by themselves.
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