Joseph Bakare
The House of Reps has pledged to investigate allegations of racketeering in passport offices across the country.
The House of Reps mandated its Committee on Interior to investigate the matter following the motion moved by Chinadu Ogah on Thursday, March 5.
Ogah in his motion accused men of the Nigeria Immigration Service, NIS, of extorting unsuspecting Nigerians who want to obtain a passport.
He explained that “the current price for the new standard passport with 32 pages is N25, 000; while the 64-booklet passport costs N35, 000 and both have a five-year validity period.”
He, however, noted that “there have been several reports of alleged extortion of Nigerians seeking to acquire international passports; by personnel of the Nigeria Immigration Service.
“Unsuspecting members of the public are made to pay as high as N50, 000 to immigration officers; with a promise to fast track processing of their international passport.”
The House of Reps, therefore, resolved to urge Federal Government to investigate the alleged passport racketeering and other corrupt practices at the offices of the Nigeria Immigration Service with a view to bringing the culprits to book.
