Following reports that the Nigerian Consulate General in New York has suspended emergency passport services due to shortage of old booklets, the Ministry of Affairs, has said that the process is normal and nothing to worry about.
Spokesman of the Ministry Ferdinand Nwonye, told BusinessDay on Wednesday that said “it is not only in New York, it occurs in most missions at times if they run short of the passport booklets. Even in Nigeria here there are times they will tell you that there is scarcity of booklet. So, there nothing new about that.”
A report quoted by the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) said in a notice dated March 6, 2020; the consulate said that only applicants on appointment would be attended to in the time being.
“The Consulate General will resume attending to all and sundry when the passport booklet supply improves,” the notice said.
The shortage, according to the Consul General, Benaoyagha Okoyen, is occasioned by gradual phase out of the old passport and transition to the new 10 year enhanced E-Passport. Okoyen gave the explanation while addressing a group of emergency passport applicants in his office in New York.
The applicants, who had showed up at the consulate before their respective interview dates, said they had no prior knowledge of the new policy. Some were said to be agitated after consular officials refused to attend to them for fear of flouting the policy.
Attempts at explanation fell on deaf ears as some said they came from far states, and could not afford the cost of putting up in New York.
Okoyen took time to explain the situation to them, saying, “There is a transition going on from the five-year to the 10-year validity passport, and we are trying to manage the old stock.
“We hope the transition process is completed soon, and once that is done this issue will be over.
“Currently, we only have limited number of booklets, which have been allocated according to our scheduled appointments,” he said.
According to NAN some of the applicants, most of whom were seeking renewal of their passports, came from other consular jurisdictions.
Besides New York, Nigeria has two other consulates in the United States located in Atlanta and Washington, serving allotted numbers of the country’s 50 states.
There are 20 states under the New York consular jurisdiction, including Connecticut, Delaware, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Maine, Massachusetts, Michigan, New Hampshire and New Jersey,
Others are New York, Nebraska, Ohio, North Dakota, South Dakota, Rhode Island, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Vermont and Pennsylvania.
Innocent Odoh, Abuja
