Nigerians in the UK who deservedly need their international passports for travel purposes are at the moment not happy with Nigeria’s Minister of Interior Olubunmi Tunji-Ojo over what they termed as exploitative scheme that is used to milk them of their hard earned money.
Although, there is no doubt that the Minister brought a sigh of relief to many, not too long ago, when he ordered that the backlog of passports should be cleared without further delay. A decision that was applauded by all and sundry.
Unfortunately, their joy seem to have been cut short when news filtered in, days back that the Nigerian Minister has introduced a new method of applying for passport with a cost of over three hundred dollars ($300).
Why the concerned are miffed with this new policy is because the process which had earlier in the year made them happy that they praised the minister, has gone back to the old ways where passport acquisition takes between four to six months; sometimes, even more.
This new high cost , though, is said to be for those who wanted accelerated acquisition, but concerned Nigerians are saying, it should be an option rather than being forced on the people like the way it appears.
This is because, many would have love to process their passports within one to two weeks that was promised by the minister and not what is obtained now where applicants will have to wait for several months before obtaining it.
Now, they have come to ask their Minister why it changed from what it used to be.
They asked, why introduce a new payment scheme when the waiting time for passport delivery is two weeks. It was also asked why the need to increase the passport delivery time to four months instead of two weeks.
Other questions are: why charge such an exorbitant amount ?
Why was the local Indigenous company overlooked for New Network Solutions that’s in charge of the collection is another question they are throwing at the Minister.
The minister was equally asked why didn't he opt for the Indigenous company digital delivery option, which is cheaper and more effective.
They didn’t stop there, they proceeded to asking why did he allow New Network Solutions office to be located inside the Nigeria government building in London.?
It is seriously alleged that the new companyNEW NETWORK SOLUTIONS, is positioned to extort from the people because it has the backing of powerful people in government.
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