Immigration Boss Warns Lagos Passport Officers Against Racketeering

Immigration Boss Warns Lagos Passport Officers Against Racketeering

The acting Comptroller General of the Nigerian Immigration services, Caroline Adepoju, has said more passport offices will be created in Lagos State to meet the needs of the high population of applicants in the state.

This was as Adepoju warned immigration officers against passport racketeering and other unprofessional conducts, vowing that erring officers would be sanctioned.

According to a statement made available to our correspondent on Sunday, Adepoju made this known during a parade at the Ikoyi passport office in Lagos.

The statement quoted her as urging immigration officers to adhere to “passport processing procedures and issues of border security.”

“All passport offices under the leadership of the passport control officers must ensure that all passport applicants must be served promptly and with dignity. There should be no delay in any passport offices and no applicants or Nigerians must be put under any hideous task or maltreatment.

“I decided to focus on personnel welfare and passport issues because these two areas have witnessed lots of complaints from both Nigerians and personnel of the immigration service. We will constitute more passport point offices, especially in Lagos where the population is high  to address the issue of passports.”

On his part, the Passport Control Officer, Deputy Comptroller Sanni Jega, stressed that applicants should not patronise louts but go online to register.

Jega also disclosed that there was no scarcity of passport booklets.