The Federal Government has said no fewer than 1.9 million passports have been issued to Nigerians between January 2021 and June 2022.
The Minister of Interior, Rauf Aregbesola, disclosed this during the inauguration of the Enhanced Passport Production Centre in Port Harcourt on Tuesday.
A statement by his Media Adviser, Sola Fasure, also quoted Aregbesola as saying that enough booklets had been distributed across various centres nationwide.
The statement partly read, “We have left no stone unturned in our quest to make passports available to Nigerians. Last year alone, we provided 1.3 million passports to Nigerians. As of today, there is no booklets shortage in Nigeria.
“As of the second quarter of this year (in June), the NIS has provided 645,000 passports out of the 750,000 applications received. To address the challenge of the backlog, we have sent 11,000 booklets to Ikoyi, 11,000 to Alausa and 8,000 to FESTAC centres in Lagos.
“We have also sent sufficient booklets to all the centres nationwide to address this challenge. There is therefore no excuse again for delay and non-issuance within a reasonable period.”
The minister added that the Passport Production Centre inaugurated in the state will serve applicants from Rivers, Cross River, Akwa Ibom and Bayelsa States.