The Minister of Interior, Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola, has ordered the suspension of processing of new passport applications in all passport offices nationwide between the seventeenth and thirty-first of this month.
According to a Nigeria Immigration Service memo marked HQ/DCG/PTD/3000/47/2021, the order was to enable the agency clear all backlog of applications, preparatory to the commencement of the new passport regime slated for the the first of June, 2021.
The memo which was signed by AB Yarima, a Deputy Comptroller General (PTD), also directs all offices involved in processing passports to double their efforts in order to ensure a smooth transition to the new passport regime.