Passport Home Delivery to Begin in February as FG Seeks to Secure Visa on Arrival From Big Economies
- The federal government said it will begin home delivery of passports starting February next year
- The Minister of Interior, Olubunmi Tunji-Ojo, said that starting from January next year, Nigerians can apply for passports online
- He said the country is also working to strengthen its visa-on-arrival policy by seeking reciprocity from some countries
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The Minister of Interior, Olubunmi Tunji-Ojo, has stated that Nigerians will have their passports delivered to their homes, offices, or wherever they want, starting February 2024.
The minister assured Nigerians that beginning in January, they can complete the application process online, leading to home delivery of passports.
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Nigeria reduces passport processing time to two weeks
Tunji-Ojo revealed this on Monday, October 9, 2023, at the International Week of the University of Lagos opening ceremony.
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The Interior Minister stated that the automation of the end-to-end passport application process has commenced.
He said his ministry has given time within which Nigerians will begin to enjoy the new experience.
He stated that Nigerians will longer have to wait longer than two weeks before obtaining their passport.
According to the minister, the process would be extended to the country's visa application.
Nigeria to open 12 visa application centres and work on visa-on-arrival reciprocity
He revealed that the ministry is deploying technology throughout the process to make it seamless.
Tunji-Ojo said the country is opening 12 more visa application centres worldwide soon.
BusinessDay reports that the country is also working to strengthen its visa-on-arrival policy and seeking reciprocity from countries benefitting from Nigeria's visa-on-arrival policy.
He said:
"Identity is who we are, what we are, and what we live for. But today, what we have is a duplication of our registration. We have the BVN in the bank, the international passport, the NIN, SIM card registration by telecos, and so on, all of which request your data. The integrity of our travel documents must be restored through harmonizing our data."
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Nigerian passport missing from top 10 most powerful passports in Africa
The Nigerian passport has witnessed downgrades over the years and is missing from Africa's 10 most powerful passports list.
Recent rankings show that the Seychelles passport is Africa's most powerful travel document and is ranked 25th globally.
Others are Mauritius, Lesotho, South Africa, Botswana, Namibia, Eswatini, Kenya, Malawi and Tanzania.
The Henley Passport Index ranks countries' passports based on the number of countries they can access without a visa or visa-on-arrival.
The recent ranking ranks the Nigerian passport 98th in the world, while its holders can access 44 countries without a visa or visa-on-arrival.
Nigerian passport ranking drops nine places in one year, now among the worst in the world
Legit.ng reported that Nigeria has fallen further down the list of the world's most powerful passports and is now placed 86th in the world.
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According to the 2022 Passport Index, a global evaluation created by Montreal-based citizenship financial advisory business Arton Capital
The current ranking is nine places lower than Nigeria's passport's previous position of 77th in the world in 2021.
Source: Legit.ng
