Nigerians in New York have again appealed to the Federal Government to supply passport production printers to the Nigeria Consulate to improve passport services in the U.S.
During a virtual 12th Town Hall Meeting organized by the Consulate for the Nigerian Community within its jurisdiction, concerned Nigerians raised this concern.
The New York Jurisdiction encompasses 20 states, including Connecticut, Delaware, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Maine, Massachusetts, Michigan, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Nebraska, Ohio, North Dakota, South Dakota, Rhode Island, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Vermont, and Pennsylvania.
In the question-and-answer portion of the meeting, Nigerians questioned the rationale behind the Federal Government’s decision to have only one passport production center in the U.S., located in Washington, DC.
Despite having three missions in the United States—namely, 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 sole passport production center. The consulates collect biometrics and send them to the embassy in Washington DC for passport production.
The attendees expressed confusion over the allocation of two passport production printers to a center serving 10 states, while the New York Consulate, which oversees 20 states, has none.
They noted that the New York Consulate oversees the largest number of states and processes the highest volume of applicants across the United States.
They also raised questions about the Federal Government’s response to numerous appeals on this matter, speculating whether financial constraints hinder the procurement of the machines and expressing readiness to mobilize resources to acquire them.
Similarly, the meeting’s moderator, Mr. Olayinka DanSalami, echoed the sentiments of the concerned Nigerians, highlighting that his organization and its partners recently brought this issue to the attention of the Federal Government.
The Organisation for the Advancement of Nigerians (OAN) and 20 collaborating partners in New York had, on February 6, urged the Federal Government to install passport production printers at the consulates in New York and Atlanta.
In a letter directed to Nigeria’s Minister of Interior, Dr. Olubunmi Tunji-Ojo, OAN voiced concern over the absence of printers at the two consulates.
Dansalami, a Board Member of OAN, encouraged more Nigerian associations to join the campaign to demand the provision of the machines for improved consular services at the two consulates.
In response, the Consul General of Nigeria in New York, Amb. Lot Egopija, expressed gratitude to the concerned Nigerians for their advocacy efforts, expressing hope that the machines would be delivered to the Consulate in the near future.
“We have informed the government, and we have been assured that they will provide the passport production printers to the New York and Atlanta Consulates in the next face of passport production machine issuance.
Earlier, the Nigerian envoy thanked the nationals for their commitment to attending the town hall meeting, which has helped in getting feedback from them.
“We have done our best to see that our nationals get their passports within the stipulated time,’’ he said.