NIS Processes 230 Applicants On Day One Of UK Passport Intervention

The Nigeria Immigration Service has said it processed 230 applicants on the first day of its special passport intervention exercise for Nigerians in the United Kingdom, after a brief technical disruption temporarily stalled biometric capturing at the Manchester centre.

In an update posted late Tuesday, the service said the downtime disrupted biometric enrolment at the Manchester centre but was quickly fixed, and every one of the 230 applicants who had booked appointments was processed and had their biometrics captured. The London centre accounted for 90 applicants, while Manchester handled 140.

The update came on a day the exercise, which began on Monday, September 7, drew complaints from some applicants. Videos and posts circulated on social media showed crowds waiting outside a locked entrance believed to be the Manchester centre, with some saying they had arrived as early as 9:00 a.m. and waited hours without being attended to. There were also complaints about venue access in London, where a man describing himself as the owner of the booked lounge was heard asking applicants to leave, citing inadequate security and staff. BusinessDay reported the complaints, noting that the claims in the videos and posts could not be independently verified.

Some applicants also alleged that an additional £70 was being demanded as an administrative fee. Interior Minister Olubunmi Tunji-Ojo rejected the claim in a statement issued by his Special Adviser on Media and Publicity, Alao Babatunde, on Monday, saying the exercise carries no charge beyond the official fees of $150 for a five-year passport and $230 for a ten-year passport, excluding bank charges. “Neither the Ministry of Interior nor the Nigeria Immigration Service has introduced any other charges outside the aforementioned,” the statement said.

The minister said consultations were ongoing with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to resolve the challenges and that applicants could also use the contactless biometric passport application system. The intervention, which runs in London and Manchester until September 19 before moving to Aberdeen and Cardiff from September 21, was arranged to clear backlogs of new applications, renewals and pending cases among Nigerians in the UK. Applicants are advised to apply and pay only through the official NIS passport portal before visiting any centre.

Sources: TVC News, BusinessDay, Vanguard