Nigeria Shuts 96 Passport Production Centres, Adopts Centralised System

The Minister of Interior, Dr Olubunmi Tunji-Ojo, on Thursday unveiled the newly completed centralised passport personalisation centre at the Nigeria Immigration Service (NIS) headquarters in Sauka, Abuja.

The facility, he said, will transform passport production and eliminate delays for Nigerians at home and abroad.

Speaking after the inspection, the minister said the project, which is now 100 per cent ready, delivers on the administration’s promise to centralise personalisation and production of passports in line with global best practices.

Tunji-Ojo said, “Previously, Nigeria operated about 96 personalisation centres across the country and abroad, perhaps only comparable to China. For perspective, the United States has only two, the United Kingdom one, France has three, Bangladesh has one, and India has one. Centralisation ensures higher quality, better control, and greater efficiency in passport production.”

The minister explained that the decentralised system had created vulnerabilities, inefficiencies, and duplication, prompting the government to adopt a unified model.

“This is a game-changer. The old machines produced only 250–300 passports per machine daily. The new system produces about 1,000 per hour, with a daily capacity of 4,500–5,000. Applicants whose requests are approved can now expect their passports to be printed within 24 hours,” he said.

Tunji-Ojo disclosed that the reform has also unified the Nigerian passport series, saying, “When we came in, there were two series — A and B. Today, with support from our technical partner, IRISMAT, we now have a single passport regime. This eliminates duplication, ensures uniformity, and strengthens the integrity of our travel documents.”

He further revealed that Nigeria has now fully migrated to the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) Public Key Directory (PKI-PKD), which authenticates travel documents globally, boosting international credibility of Nigerian passports.

Highlighting the impact of the reform, the minister recalled that when the government assumed office, there were 204,000 backlogs of passports.

Tunji-Ojo said, “With this facility, the era of backlogs is over. Personalisation is now automated, eliminating the need for officers to work round-the-clock or manually correct errors. This is the first time since the establishment of the NIS in 1963 that Nigeria is having such a world-class centralised personalisation centre — comparable to those in the U.S., U.K., France, Russia, India, and Bangladesh.”

Tunji-Ojo expressed gratitude to President Bola Ahmed Tinubu for his support, as well as the Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Interior, the Comptroller-General of Immigration, officers of the NIS, and the technical partner, IRIS SMART Technologies Limited, whose collaboration made the project possible.

He assured Nigerians that the new system would drastically cut waiting times.

“Where people used to wait days or weeks, passports can now be processed in hours. We promised two weeks’ delivery; we are already working towards achieving one week or less,” the minister said.

On passport fees, the minister said, “What matters is that Nigerians now get value for money through faster, more secure, and more reliable services.”

Tunji-Ojo described the initiative as a major win for the Tinubu administration.

“This is a big win for Nigeria, and a testament to the government’s commitment to service delivery, reform, and efficiency,” he added.

Nigeria Shuts 96 Passport Production Centres, Adopts Centralised System is first published on The Whistler Newspaper