Muhammad Babandede, Comptroller General of Nigerian Immigration services, has disclosed that Nigerians in the diaspora who could not travel back home due to closure of some missions abroad due to the COVID-19 restrictions who posses expired passports can now travel home to Nigeria.
Mr. Babandede stated this during a press chat with journalists at the service headquarters in Abuja on Wednesday. He said that Nigerians holding passports abroad should apply to the Compter General of Immigration for approval and clearance before they could proceed to the airport for the journey to Nigeria.
Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola, Minister of interior, had approved the opening of three front offices at Abuja, Kano and Lagos international Airports for the purpose of mitigating the problem. He also added that Nigerians could now apply for new passports.
The Minister of Interior had earlier approved a project that launched an emergency travel passports for citizens abroad.
READ MORE: Nigeria launches new Temporary emergency Travel passport for citizens abroad
For Nigerians in Germany, the service was working with CBN, and the office of the Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice to resolve the technical issues that are hampering as smooth transition of passport renewal for Nigerians.
It was further explained that visa on arrival should only be applied for by individuals and not companies who are servings as agents, he added that the newly decentralises passport Express Processing Centre launched in Maitama, Abuja will ease the delays that Nigerians face in passports issuance while creating jobs.
Source: Nigerian Immigration services