Nigerian Consulate, New York, takes delivery of passport printing machine; Consul General assures of better services
The Consul General of Nigeria in New York, United States of America (USA), Ambassador Abubakar Jidda, has confirmed the arrival of a passport printing machine in the Consulate, with a pledge that the delays being experienced by nationals with respect to issuance of new passports or renewal of the essential travel document will soon be a thing of the past.
Ambassador Jidda, at a Town Hall meeting yesterday, Thursday, February 27, 2025, announced that the machine arrived New York some days ago, bringing to an end the practice of officials going to the Nigerian Embassy in Washington DC from time to time to print passports for nationals within the jurisdiction of the New York Consulate, a practice that often resulted in delays.
He said, however, that because there is still a backlog of passports to be printed, the three months timeline for collection of passports would still remain in place, pending when the backlog is cleared.
Nigerians within the area of coverage of the New York Consulate General had for some time been agitating for the installation of a passport printing machine in the Consulate to end the delays they were experiencing in collecting their passports.
Ambassador Jidda, addressing the capacity crowd of nationals that attended the virtual Town Hall meeting, assured that with the delivery of the machine, the backlog of yet to be printed passports will soon be cleared to make way for seamless production of the documents.
He also announced that President Bola Tinubu has approved the opening of some new Missions in the United States, which will further ease delays in provision of consular services.
Meanwhile, the Envoy also announced that a Help Desk has been set up at the Consulate, dedicated to assisting nationals to address any issues they may have, including with the National Identification Number (NIN).
He also stated that a Trade Desk, manned by a senior official of the Consulate is also available to address all issues relating to investments in the home country by Nigerians in the diaspora and by other foreign investors interested in doing business in the country.
There were many questions from several of those on the call, especially relating to passports and other consular services, immigration and investment, as well as on the Diaspora voting Bill, which the Consul General said is still in the National Assembly.
The Town Hall meeting also had in attendance two Attorneys who answered the many questions relating to immigration matters, from the legal points of view.
Ambassador Jidda ended the meeting with assurances that nationals within the states being covered by New York will witnessed remarkably improved services before the next Town Hall meeting scheduled for April, with many of those that participated in the meeting hailing his handling of issues and his performance in office so far.
