The Federal Government through the Nigeria Immigration Service (NIS) said on Thursday that it would establish a passport factory in the country where the passports can be produced.
“I know that in the past month we had issues with shortage of the booklet, but that has been sorted out, the best solution is to produce the passport here in the country and we are doing the process, passport has to be produced in Nigeria, there will be a passport factory in Nigeria, I don’t want to tell you the other things”, Muhammed Babandede, Comptroller-General of NIS said in Lagos.
He said many Nigerians thought that when they have visa stamp on their passport, the next thing is to declare it lost, “but we have added the lost passport as part of the wanted crimes, if you use a passport that has been declared lost to travel you will be persecuted and in the new passport we are producing now, you will see the number of your previous passport on it”.
On the issues of lost passport or change of name, he said, “if for some reason you want to change your name of marital status you no longer need to go to our service headquarters in Abuja, it can be done now at any of our offices, it will be scanned to Abuja and sent back immediately to where you apply for the change”.
GTBank has partnered with New Works Limited and the Nigeria Immigration Service (NIS) to deliver an end-to-end process for Nigerians to apply for their International Passports online and also make payments at the official rates online.
This multi-channel payment system will enable Nigerians apply for all international passport types (new and renewals) online at https://immigration.gov.ng and make payments on all GTBank’s e-channels using the reference ID generated at the application stage.
Payment for passport services can be made on GTBank’s internet banking platform at www.gtbank.com, GTBank’s mobile banking app or via GTBank’s 737 platform, by simply dialling *737*33*7*TRANSACTIONID#.
In addition to these payment channels, GTBank is launching payment offices at six of the Nigerian Immigration Service Offices; starting with the passport office at Alagbon Close, Ikoyi, Lagos. Five other payment offices will be set up at Alausa, Festac, Port Harcourt, Kano and the NIS Headquarters in Abuja. The GTBank payment offices will make paying for immigration services at NIS offices easy and seamless.
Commenting on the Partnership with New Works and the Nigeria Immigration Service, the managing director of Guaranty Trust Bank plc, Segun Agbaje stated that, “We are delighted to be at the forefront of digital banking solutions that is making banking faster, cheaper and simpler for every Nigerian. We believe that creating a multi-channel payment system for immigration services reflects our commitment to driving digital banking solutions that not only drives financial inclusion, but also positions us at the center of an ecosystem that offers benefits beyond banking.”
