Nigerian Citizens in New York Demand Passport Printers from Federal Government

Nigerian citizens residing in New York have once again urged the Federal Government to provide passport production printers to the Nigerian Consulate in order to improve the efficiency of passport services in the United States.

During a virtual 12th Town Hall Meeting hosted by the Consulate for the Nigerian Community under its jurisdiction, concerned citizens raised the issue of having only one passport production center in the U.S., which is located in Washington, DC.

Nigeria has three missions in the United States: the Consulates-General of Nigeria in New York and Atlanta, and the Embassy of Nigeria in Washington, DC.

The embassy in Washington DC is the only passport production center, while the consulates take biometrics and forward them to the embassy for passport production.

The citizens questioned the decision to provide two passport production printers in a center with 10 states under its jurisdiction and none in the New York Consulate, which has 20 states under its jurisdiction.

They argued that the New York Consulate has the highest number of states and accepts the most significant number of applicants across the United States.

The citizens also questioned the response of the Federal Government to several appeals made on this issue, even offering to assist in obtaining the necessary equipment.

The moderator of the meeting, Mr. Olayinka DanSalami, shared the same sentiments and noted that his organization and its partners had recently called the attention of the Federal Government to this matter.

The Organisation for the Advancement of Nigerians (OAN) and 20 partner organizations in New York had on Feb. 6 appealed to the Federal Government to install passport production printers at the consulates in New York and Atlanta.

In a letter addressed to Nigeria’s Minister of Interior, Dr. Olubunmi Tunji-Ojo, on behalf of the partner organizations, OAN expressed concern over the lack of printers at the two consulates.

In response, the Consul General of Nigeria in New York, Amb. Lot Egopija, thanked the concerned citizens for their passion and assured them that the government would provide the passport production printers to the New York and Atlanta Consulates in the next phase of passport production machine issuance.

The Nigerian envoy also thanked the nationals for their commitment to attending the town hall meeting, which has helped in getting feedback from them.

He assured them that the consulate has done its best to ensure that nationals receive their passports within the stipulated time.