The Nigeria Immigration Service has reacted following a public critique from investigative journalist Fisayo Soyombo, who called out Minister of Interior Olubunmi Tunji-Ojo for his failure to fulfill his pledge regarding efficient passport issuance.
In a recent social media post, Soyombo revealed that he had applied to renew his passport six months prior, yet he has not received it to date.
He highlighted that this situation contradicts the Minister's earlier assurance, which promised that Nigerian citizens would obtain their passports within a week of application. Soyombo further noted that he faced significant backlash online for expressing skepticism about the Minister's ability to uphold this promise.
In his statement, Soyombo wrote,
‘In January 2024, when I mentioned that “Interior Minister Olubunmi Tunji-Ojo will NEVER be able to revolutionise Nigeria’s notoriously corrupt passport application system,” some accused me of spreading negative predictions.
However, it has now been six months since I submitted my application to renew my international passport. I might receive it tomorrow.
On Thursday, July 31, 2025, I paid N109,700 via the Nigeria Immigration Service (NIS) payment portal and subsequently went to one of their Lagos offices to finish additional paperwork and data capture. Nonetheless, the employees initially ridiculed us for starting the registration process online.
I could not finish my data capture that day due to an extensive “network issue,” which persisted for several hours; I had to return the following day to complete it. As it stands, I continue to receive the confusing feedback of 'passport pending production' from NIS.
Ironically, Olubunmi Tunji-Ojo remains praised by the unsuspecting public as one of the best — if not the best — ministers in Tinubu’s administration. Nearly five months have elapsed since he publicized yet another ambitious promise that Nigerians would receive their international passports a week following their application.
My opinion of him remains unchanged; he embodies the typical Nigerian politician skilled in media manipulation and public relations for self- promotion.
Beware if you depend solely on media accounts to evaluate the performance of public officials, or even more critically, the effectiveness of public institutions!''
In response to Soyombo’s claims, the Immigration Service issued a statement on its X handle, asserting that, contrary to his assertion, his passport is ready for pickup. The agency noted that passport applications currently require two to three weeks for processing and emphasized that millions of passports have been successfully produced thus far. They mentioned that various factors, such as incomplete applications and technical issues, have affected the process, causing delays that are common across global systems.
The agency's statement included the following excerpt,
‘We refer to the recent publication concerning Fisayo Soyombo’s passport application that has been alleged to be pending.
We wish to clarify that the passport in question has already been produced and is available for delivery.
To date, passport applicants have enjoyed a processing time of 2-3 weeks, with millions successfully produced by now. While some factors such as incomplete applications, security checks, and technical issues may introduce delays, these occurrences are not unusual globally.
To clarify, the passport application portal has efficiently processed numerous applications, with many individuals receiving their passports within the projected timeframe.
Moreover, more than 1.3 million passports were created in 2025 alone. Reports indicate that our passport has recently improved its ranking on the Henley Passport Index.
Therefore, a single case of delay should not be construed as an accurate reflection of a reform initiative that has garnered public approval and restored order to a crisis we previously grappled with.
We genuinely appreciate feedback such as this, as it aids us in enhancing our services.
Going forward, we will implement a new feature in the passport application tracker, “passport produced”, to alert applicants when their passport is ready for collection.'
As the discourse continued, other Nigerians took the chance to voice their concerns regarding their delayed passport processing. One individual stated he had applied for his passport from the UK in August 2025 and still had not received it. In its clarification, the agency indicated that there are currently no backlogs for passport applications in the UK, except for those involving Change of Data requests.
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