Open letter to Minister of Interior – Hon Tunji-Ojo

Open letter to Minister of Interior – Hon Tunji-Ojo

 By Olayinka Oyegbile

Dear Minister,

I am happy to write this letter to you and I hope it meets you well. I am writing this to you to laud your efforts at the Immigration office and the process of obtaining the Nigerian passport. I must confess that I am deeply impressed with your works in this area.

I know many people must have told you this. However, I wish to add my voice to the commendation. I confess that when you were nominated as a Minister, I was one of those who thought you and a few others that ‘abandoned’ the mandate given to you by your constituents to take up ministerial appointments were mistaken. I thought it was better you served your community than take up the job of a minister. I was told that you were a good representative of your constituency and that you did well there. Perhaps it was that you wanted to carry to the federal level.

I can attest to it that you have done well if only for what you have done with the Immigration Offices across the country. But let me restrict myself to the Alausa Office which I am very familiar with in the last 20 or so years that I have been obtaining/renewing my passport there.

The decision to digitalise the process of acquiring a passport is a masterstroke and the best decision which I hope can be extended to other areas of government activities. My last passport was to expire in September 2025, so I decided to set forth at dawn to initiate the process of getting another one. Toward the end of January, I initiated the process and went online to read what I needed to upload. I got everything ready and logged on to the website.

It was seamless and very tidy to navigate. Thank you for this. I hope other government agencies can copy and make their websites this fast and less cumbersome to navigate. I filled the form and uploaded all that was required without any stress. I also paid the required fee all online. After that I proceeded to the platform to book a date for the ‘data capture’. To my surprise, two days hence was available. I was surprised.

The Alausa Immigration office

On the appointment date, which was February 4, 2025 at 2pm. I in company of my wife (we always renew the documents together) marched to the Alausa office. We got there a little after 1pm. I always endeavour to keep to time to avoid stories that touch. On stepping into the Alausa Immigration Office compound, I was astounded with what I saw. Five years ago, when I stepped into the same compound, it was like stepping into Oyingbo or Oshodi market with the surge of crowd and noise filling the airspace.

However, on this day February 4, 2025, the whole place looked deserted. I had to ask my wife to confirm if we had not missed our way! On getting to the reception hall; this too was devoid of the large surge of humanity that used to clog the place. In effect, the air conditioner that was put on was working thus making the hall habitable and good to sit in.

An official in uniform welcome us saying, “Daddy and Mummy, welcome. How can I help you?”

I told him we came for ‘data capturing’.

“Have you paid?” he asked.

“Yes” I replied.

He asked for the forms and I handed it to him. After scrutinizing it and confirming that it was in order. He asked, “How did you pay for it?” I pretended as if I didn’t understand what he was saying. He then said, “Did you pay in the bank or how?” I replied that I paid for it on the website using my laptop. I was waiting to hear the familiar language of “It has not dropped.”

I am sure many Nigerians are familiar with this language where officials try to fleece you by telling you your payment has not “dropped” despite the proof of payment (receipt) that you have. After these banters, he directed me to another officer sitting at another of the hall. That one also confirmed that everything was in order and he directed me to another room perhaps for another verification. When we got to the lady who scrutinised the document, she said, “Daddy and Mummy, your passport has not expired. This is February, it is to expire in September (as if I didn’t know), you have more than six months to go.”

I told her, “Yes, ma. I know. We decided to start early because we thought the process could take a long time. However, I was surprised that I got an early date to come and submit. Is there anything wrong with that?”

She looked at me and returned the documents to me. She stood up from her desk and said we should follow her. We did and she directed us to meet the same official who scrutinized our papers earlier and sent us to her. I told her he was the one who directed us to her, so why send us back to him? He called the officer’s attention and told him to look at our documents again saying it has not expired yet.

At this point I thought something was wrong. We went back to the officer. He looked at the documents again. This time with rapt attention, as if something sinister had been uncovered. He turned both passports upside down and looked as if he had an inner eye this time around to discover something he failed to discover before his attention was called to it.

After the ‘thorough’ screening with and inner eye, he too reverted to calling me ‘Daddy’, I have no objections to that.

“Daddy, this your document will expire in September. This is February. You have to go and wait for it to have something like six or five months or less before you can come for a reissue or renewal.”

I didn’t have any plan to travel soon. So, it wasn’t a problem to me. However, I know enough that as a journalist/media scholar, any travel could drop by at any moment and knowing that most embassies won’t issue a visa if you have anything less than six months to expiration of your document, hence the need to apply for a new one early. Besides when I initiated the application process, I thought the wait for ‘data capture’ was going to take a while. At least going by past experiences.

“Well, I don’t want to take chances. Besides, your website didn’t say that when I filled the form and it gave us the date for submission and data capture. So where is that rule coming from?” I asked.

Come back in two months’ time

Honourable Minister, Sir, it was at this point that I was told to go home, wait and book for another appointment another day. Knowing the country we run, I told him no that the website didn’t say I can’t come forward at any time. To cut a long story short, he then told me that if I insist that I want to renew/or get another one I have to pay N26, 600 (that is N13,300 each)!

I asked to be given the Office’s PoS machine to pay but was told that the payment had to be in cash. I suspected something was amiss here. I asked if a receipt would be issued for the payment. He said no but that he would take the forms upstairs for “Oga to sign and when I return you will see a signature in green biro!” As if that was enough proof that it was not money going into anyone’s private purse! Was the green biro a guarantee?

There were no plans to travel anytime soon, so I was not ready to be a ‘mugu’. However, my wife prevailed on me that our journey (all the way from Ota, Ogun State) should not be “in vain just because of 20k!” I paid the money and pronto he disappeared upstairs and came back showing me the magical signature in green biro! He gave the forms back to me and I returned to the lady. After her scrutiny she directed us to Room 13 for ‘data capturing.’

We were then given two months to return and pick up our new passports. On April 29, we were back at the office and the documents were ready. We met officials who were courteous and smiling all the way while attending to all those who came around.

Honourable Minister, sir, I must say that this is a great improvement of our experience five years ago when we went to that same office. The crowd and disorganized system have given way to orderliness. Nigeria can work better for all of us if we are determined to make it work.

However, I want you to look at the issue I raised in this letter. When should Nigerians approach Immigration for renewal of their passports? This should be clearly stated on the website. The idea of an officer ambushing applicants in the office and collecting cash defeats the purpose you set out to achieve when the processes were digitalized.

If I know that I can apply and get it in two months or even three, why should I bother to apply early? This is a minus in to your valiant efforts in that sector. Please, look into it. Don’t let that little speck spoil the good work you have done both at home and in the diaspora.

Thank you.

 *Dr Oyegbile is a journalist and writer