Nigeria Immigration Service ends 62-year multi-centre passport production, introduces centralised system to deliver up to 5,000 passports daily.
The Nigeria Immigration Service (NIS) has officially ended passport production at multiple centres, moving to a single centralised system for the first time in 62 years.
Minister of Interior, Dr Olubunmi Tunji-Ojo, announced this on Thursday during an inspection of the new Centralised Passport Personalisation Centre at NIS Headquarters in Abuja.
“Since the establishment of NIS in 1963, Nigeria had never operated a central passport production centre until now,” Tunji-Ojo said, calling the move a “game-changer” for passport processing.
He explained that old machines could only produce 250 to 300 passports daily, while the new system has a capacity of 4,500 to 5,000 per day.
“With this, NIS can now meet daily demands within just four to five hours of operation,” he said.
The minister added that the reform aligns with President Bola Tinubu’s agenda and would improve efficiency, enhance global integrity of Nigerian passports, and shorten processing timelines to one week.