By Milton Tella – Nigerians in the United Kingdom wholeheartedly welcome the restoration of biometric services by the Nigeria High Commission London. UK passport applicants are hopeful that the National Identity Management Commission (NIMC) officials and other technical partners in Abuja will make sure that their National Identification Numbers (NIN) are uploaded before they arrive the Mission.
In a sympathetic but firm statement to rescue a failing system of passport application process, the High Commissioner to the UK, His Excellency, Ambassador Sarafa Tunji Isola, took the decision to press the reset button to restore the system to normalcy. “In order to address the issues responsible for the then anomalous situation, adequate steps were taken to address the issues of Nigerians in need of passports for urgent reasons. These critical needs sometimes build up tension and frustration, which, hitherto, were responsible for multiple ugly incidents recorded in the Mission, thus exposing the entire staff to danger. Breaking of vehicle screens, knife attacks on vehicles’ tyres, assaults on staff, and general insecurity in the Mission’s premises and its surroundings, were the order of the day.”
The High Commissioner ordered the suspension of the biometric capture on 28 March 2022 and within a week the services were restored.
This recent suspension of biometric capture for passport applicants was ordered to make a case on behalf of Nigerians in the Diaspora, who have been at the receiving end of unfavourable policies by decision makers in Abuja, the capital city of Nigeria.
The brief halt to the system is expected to highlight the sufferings of Nigerians processing their passports in the UK. The passport processing is currently taking over two months from the initial online application and payment. This is due to the prolonged appointment date, delay in National Identification Number (NIN) verification and uploading, all presently being controlled from Abuja. These are some of the many issues clogging the system.
Whether the brief suspension was able to address and resolve the core issues permanently is yet to be ascertained.
Normal biometric service has since resumed on Monday 4 April 2022, with the promise by Nigeria Immigration Service (NIS) Abuja to look into Issues relating to the appointment for biometrics capture, which is required for Enhanced E-Passport and while other ancillary matters connected with the recently launched Enhanced E-Passport are critically being evaluated by the Nigeria Immigration Service Abuja, with a view to easing the process and rectifying identified challenges. The Nigeria Immigration Service intends to send a technical team to London in this regard, and has also pledged to ensure optimum service to passport applicants in the United Kingdom.
The Nigeria Immigration Services in Abuja who is responsible for the issuance of passports to Nigerians across the world has an insufficient number of staff based at the Immigration Section of the Nigeria High Commission in London, hence some administrative staff of the Mission are deployed to support them. This department attends to over one million Nigerians in the UK requiring the services of the department from time to time. The most absurd thing is that it is the Abuja office in Nigeria that decides the critical aspect of arranging appointments for passport applicants based in the UK.
Payment for passport is done online via a private company in the US, while appointment for biometric is remotely set in Abuja. One of the recurring errors in this arrangement is the fact that appointment dates are often fixed on UK public holidays. Of late, biometric appointment dates are fixed for 8-9 weeks after application and passport payments have been made without any reference to applicants’ circumstances.
Nigerians in the UK have been getting a raw deal for too long. Not only are Nigerians in the UK not allowed to participate in electing their candidates of choice to represent them during elections in the democratic process; they are also not consulted on decisions that affect them directly.
It is just completely unacceptable that Nigerians in the Diaspora should only be seen as a cash cow.
One can trace the catalogue of cases from exorbitant charges for the cost of a passport when compared to the cost paid by Nigerians at home or other African nationals in the UK.
At the introduction of the Bank Verification Number (BVN) by the Nigerian Central Bank, Nigerians in the UK were asked to pay £40.00 processing charge and for the National Identification Number (NIN) currently on-going, Nigerians in the UK are also required to pay a charge of £50.00 when these services are provided free for Nigerians at home.
A situation where Nigerians abroad are simply revenue generators for these agencies of government does not guarantee equity and fairness.
The Diaspora has been taken for granted for too long. We hope the proposed delegation from Abuja will consult with representatives of Nigerians in the UK and take serious steps to address the root causes of the problems associated with passport issuance in the UK.
African Voice visited the Immigration section of the Nigeria High Commission London on Monday 4 April 2022, to observe the level of customer service, especially when one will be expecting a large number of applicants in attendance for the biometric capture. Those who missed their dates due to last week’s biometrics suspension were allowed to come in any day of their choice, which further created a large crowd this week. The school holiday also added to the crowded situation.
Majority of the service users who spoke with African Voice,expressed satisfaction; our investigation revealed that most of the applicants have urgent needs for the passport. Bayo Sodeinde said, “I honestly believe something can be done to ensure that processing days for Nigerian passports can be reduced drastically. I have waited for too long for this appointment date. I have had to cancel work to be here today. The total cost for acquiring the Nigerian passport is also unreasonably high. But l must applaud the High Commissioner for restoring this service.”
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