Just like many other public institutions, the Nigeria Immigration Service stinks of infernal corruption. Already, an exposé in the media that applicants are being fleeced at the Alausa, Ikeja, Lagos passport office has triggered a probe by the NIS. The sleaze is a hurricane that sweeps across all NIS offices across the country.
In theory, the NIS is supposed to issue fresh passports to applicants within 48 hours; re-issuance (or renewal) takes 72 hours after enrolling for biometric data capture, which takes an unspecified length of time. But in practice things are completely different, an unpleasant experience for the majority of applicants who go through excruciating delay. This manifests in open touting or the deliberate use of “agents” by NIS officers, and lengthy queues at passport offices. The Alausa passport office in Lagos is an eyesore. Rowdiness and long queues define the place, among other ills. The bottleneck fuels bribery, allowing NIS officers to rip off or wring bribes from desperate applicants, who are made to pay between N25,000 and N27,000 or more, instead of the official price of N17,000 (32 pages) or N22,000 (64 pages). Officers solicit money to issue passport to applicants through the use of agents. This is terrible.
Unfortunately, allegations of sleaze in the passport offices are nothing new. The NIS Comptroller-General, Muhammed Babandede, confirms the rottenness in the passport offices. “I have also arrested officers in passport offices collecting money,” he said. “They would tell clients that booklets were finished, which was an excuse to raise the money (cost).” This is damning.
An August 2017 report by the National Bureau of Statistics, in collaboration with the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crimes, corroborates the malfeasance. The organisations estimate that between April 2015 and May 2016, Nigerian public officials received bribes of N400 billion “to speed up and finalise administrative procedures, to avoid payments of fines and cancellation of public services.” By collecting above the official price to issue passports, the NIS passport office in Alausa is part of this foul racket.

To be fair, the NIS has made some changes by decentralising the passport offices and uploading the cost of the document on its website. Yet, the ingrained practices of touting and extortion have yet to pave the way for the easy acquisition of passports because the NIS website is just too rudimentary to handle the pressure from a high number of applicants. As a result, applicants opt for the manual process, which is longer and cumbersome. This runs counter to sound global best practices.
In comparison, America’s Department of State issues passports to citizens reasonably fast. In case of emergencies, applicants get their passports in two weeks. In the United States, citizens apply online or at designated government offices, including post offices, with clerks of courts, public libraries, and state government counties, township and municipal offices. Thus, effective decentralisation and cutting-edge technology are the critical elements in reducing contact between applicants and immigration officers and ensuring a fast process. Similarly, in the United Kingdom, passport renewal takes three weeks, but applications can also be processed through the post office. In Nigeria, the government has abandoned this institution.
Nigerians deserve better treatment. Effective law enforcement is essential to ensure the corrupt are punished to break the cycle of impunity. We welcome the NIS investigation, but wholly reject this half-measure because the NIS cannot be a judge in its own cause. To get to the root of the mess, and enthrone first class service, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission should step in. Regrettably, the Muhammadu Buhari administration’s anti-corruption crusade has produced a mountain of words and hardly a molehill of solid results in terms of positive change, or, reform, in institutional behaviour.
The NIS should clear the rot at its passport offices, beginning with Alausa, upgrade its website and deploy cutting-edge technology to aid the seamless acquisition of passports. Corrupt officers should not be demoted, as Babandede recommended to the NIS board, but should be charged to court and flushed out of the system. Such public examples are essential to root out graft.
To purify the passport issuance process and bring about the change Vice-President Yemi Osinbajo envisaged when he issued an Executive Order on the ease of doing business last May, Babandede should reduce the contact between passport applicants and NIS officers to the barest minimum through technology. The NIS boss needs to put in place a solid set of preventive tools. He should identify and remove opportunity for corruption in the system; streamline cumbersome administrative procedures and slash red tape to provide an efficient and transparent service to the public. If government services take a long time to deliver and require multiple processes and steps, then the likelihood of corruption and malpractice will multiply. It is implausible that the NIS is lacking in such technology small-time cybercafé operators can afford to carry out its operations.
Going forward, the NIS boss should set up an internal inspectorate/intelligence unit to constantly monitor its offices nationwide and apply strict sanctions against the corrupt. Osinbajo and the Minister of Interior, Abdulrahman Dambazau, should follow up on the EO on ease of doing business with a view to having a well-structured, fast operation and transparent financial management at the NIS.
