The Nigeria Immigration Service (NIS) has blamed the shortage of passport booklets In the country on some policies of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) among other factors.
OsunDaily News reports that this revelation was made by Comptroller-General of NIS, Idris Jere when he appeared before an ad hoc committee of the House of Representatives investigating the production of passport booklets in Nigeria.
The NIS boss told members of the committee that the lack of forex has affected the production of booklets, noting that major components for producing booklets are sourced from overseas with force.
It would be recalled that the House had last week ordered an investigation over the delay in the issuance and renewal of passports across NIS offices in the country.
It was against this backdrop that the NIS boss appeared before the House committee in charge of the matter.
According to him, “Foreign exchange regulation policy of the government and CBN’s refusal to grant access to forex for importation of the passport booklet………we generate forex from the sale of passport but we do not have access to buy the same booklet and that is a challenge for NIS.
“The factors responsible for the scarcity of passports include the inability to set up passport producing factory in Nigeria as its production is done abroad.”
Giving his comments about the direction e given by President Muhammadu Buhari for booklets to be produced by the Nigeria Security Printing and Minting PLC (NSPM), Jere said all due processes have to be taken for a proper exit plan for a smooth transition from Irris Smart Tech to prevent any breach of contract and production process.
Speaking earlier, the CEO of Irris Smart Technology Ltd, Yinker Fisher said that forex is the major impediment to the production of booklets.
He also accused NSPM of sabotaging the effort of the company in the production of the booklets.
Fisher said that the company is being denied access to forex by the CBN acting at the behest of NSPM.
He said replacing Irris Smart Tech Ltd with NSPM, would amount to changing the goalpost.
