Aregbesola visits Alausa Passport Office, Lagos …Queries officer for breaching due process; Storms Kirikiri Prisons

Nigerians have been advised to follow due process in their passport application and shun patronizing touts who will end up disrupting the standardized procedure.

Minister of Interior, Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola, stated this on Wednesday when he paid a surprise visit to the Alausa Passport Office of the Nigerian Immigration Service (NIS) in Lagos.

“I have said it for the umpteenth time that Nigerians must stop patronizing touts either in uniforms or in civilian clothings. The only way for you to apply for your passport is online.

“The attempt to get passport on-the-go and boycott the standardized collection timeline of three weeks for reissue and six weeks for fresh application after capturing, which is the main reason why many patronize touts, will only end up in disappointment.

“Our appointment-based system for capturing applicants’ data and standardized passport collection procedure has made nonsense of promises by touts to deliver passports to applicants who patronize them. Patronizing them will only end in disappointment,” the Minister stated.

Whilst listening to feedback from applicants who were waiting for their data capturing, an applicant complained about the application process, which in his opinion is cumbersome.

“After I completed my application and chose today for my data capturing appointment, I printed all necessary documents. However, on my arrival here, I was asked to start filling a manual form again, which I had filled online and printed already,” the applicant complained.

Minister asked the Passport Control Officer at the station, Mrs. B. L. Bukar, to explain the breach of due process, noting that such request was strange. The officer who allegedly sold the obnoxious form and made the request for manual filling of the form was identified and subsequently queried.

Addressing the applicants, the Minister pleaded with Nigerians to totally avoid the urge to patronize touts, stating that if they cooperate with government, the ongoing passport reforms will work, and the system will be improved overall.

Ogbeni Aregbesola told the officers on duty that they are servants of the people, and this must be reflected in their attitude at work and the way they relate with passport applicants. As such, they should avoid creating false gridlocks that frustrate and exasperate the people.

Addressing the press at the end of his visit, Ogbeni Aregbesola stated that the earlier visit to Kirikiri Custodial Centres and the Alausa Passport office are part of his effort at ensuring that the Ministry and the agencies serve Nigerians to the best of her abilities, and to keep the agencies on their toes, knowing that he may walk into any of their service centres at any time.

 At Kirikiri Maximum Security Custodial Centre

… says 61,000 Boko Haram suspects held in the North East

While at the Kirikiri Maximum Security Custodial Centre, the Minister stated that the country is on the path to totally defeating Boko Haram terrorists and other criminals ravaging the country, stating that many of them have been arrested, especially in the north east.

He said that Officers and men of the Nigeria security forces and paramilitary agencies have been advised to remain vigilant and continually on the watch to be able to defeat the criminal elements terrorising the country.

Ogbeni Aregbesola, who stated this when he paid a surprise visit to the Kirikiri Maximum and Medium Security Custodial Centres in Kirikiri, Apapa, Lagos state on Tuesday, said: “We must acknowledge our servicemen and security agencies, who have sacrificed a lot to make this possible. We must equally charge them to remain eternally vigilant and continuously evolve strategies. And to define these strategies, we have to make decisions based not on fear, but on hard-earned wisdom.

“I have also informed our officers and men here that they must fight to defend our institutions, territory and constitution. It also applies to all others wherever they are posted in Nigeria. The ragtag groups of opportunists must not be allowed to attack our institutions and get away with it. They must not live to tell the story,” Ogbeni Aregbesola stated, apparently referring to recent attacks by insurgents on Custodial centres from where they release inmates.

He directed that the management of the Nigerian Correctional Service (NCoS) should improve its efforts on intelligence gathering and act on such information garnered, saying it is the panacea to solving the problem of incessant Custodial Centres attacks.

“So far, no jail break by inmates has been successful, we have successfully quelled all of them. What we have reoccurring since the #EndSars protests of October 2020, has been a mass of people attacking our facilities from outside and setting the inmates free.

“However, I have now directed the Controller General of the NCoS to double his efforts on intelligence gathering to fortify and prevent breaches to the Custodial Centres beyond the use of arms and force,” Ogbeni Aregbesola informed the press.

“Our assurance to Nigerians is that we shall rise above these challenges and emerge stronger and more resilient,” the Minister assured.