Tony Akowe, Abuja
The House of Representatives on Thursday expressed concern over increasing cases of passport racketeering perpetuated by officials of the Nigeria Immigration Service, saying the unholy practice is depriving the country of huge revenue.
The House also expressed worries that if the practice is not checked, it might undermine national security and expose the country to international ridicule as foreigners may take advantage of it to acquire Nigerian passports.
The House therefore mandated its Committee on interior to investigate the agency to ascertain the level of culpability of its officials and recommend appropriate sanction.
This followed a motion sponsored by Rep. Chinedu Ogah on the need to investigate the alleged extortion, passport racketeering and corrupt practices by officials of the Nigeria Immigration Service.
The Lawmakers also directed the relevant agencies of government to ensure that all payments to the Nigeria Immigration Service are done through the appropriate TSA channel and anyone violating the terms of the policy is made to face the full wrath of the law.
Rep Ogah told his colleagues that the Nigeria Immigration Service is the agency responsible for the production and issuance of the Nigerian international passport.
He also said that 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 expressed concern that there have been several reports of alleged extortion of Nigerians seeking to acquire international passports by personnel of the some Nigeria Immigration Service.
According to him, 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.
He also informed the House of the existence of the Treasury Single Account which he said was developed by the International Monetary Fund and fully implemented by President Muhammad Buhari to promote accountability and transparency in public administration.
He said government Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) and government owned enterprises were directed to transfer all financial assets from commercial banks to a consolidated revenue fund domiciled in the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).
He maintained that in spite of the inestimable success of the policy, officers of a revenue-generating agency such as the Nigeria Immigration Service are plagued by the sinister desire to subvert the policy with the ultimate goal of fattening their pockets, thus impeding the drive for a better Nigeria.
He alleged that Immigration personnel now collect cash from Nigerians seeking international passport instead of payment through Remita, which is the official TSA payment channel, describing it as gross violation of the TSA policy of the Federal Government.
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He stressed that as a result of the unscrupulous activities of some officers of the Service at the various passport offices nationwide, well-meaning Nigerians are being denied legitimate access to the services of the agency while the country is deprived of millions of revenue through corrupt personnel on a daily basis.
He maintained that the rising trend of passport racketeering would expose the country to foreign criminals who may take advantage of the corrupt practices to acquire Nigerian passports and commit crimes that could tarnish the country’s image.
He stressed that the practice must be discourage by ensuring that errant officers and their cronies are made to face the full wrath of the law.
In his contribution, Deputy Minority Leader of the House, Rep Toby Okechukwu said if there was a continuous breach of the TSA policy of government by officials of the agency, one begin to wonder what the Minister and the Comptroller General of Immigration were doing there.
He said it was a shame that officials of the service collects up to N50,000 cash to process international passport, describing it as a shame, saying if the Executive arm of government was not responsible enough, it was unfortunate.
He said the TSA policy was a government policy which must not be observed in the breach, adding that it needs to be tackled right from the root.
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