Nigeria Can Now Produce 5,000 Passports In Five Hours

The Federal Government has announced a breakthrough in passport processing as the Nigeria Immigration Service (NIS) can now produce between 4,500 and 5,000 passports within five hours.

This marks the first time in its 62-year history that the service has achieved such speed and scale.

The development follows the commissioning of a new Centralised Passport Personalisation Centre at the NIS headquarters in Abuja. The centre is equipped with advanced facilities that allow the personalisation of over 1,000 passports in just one hour, a major leap from the previous capacity of about 250 to 300 passports per day.

Interior Minister Olubunmi Tunji-Ojo, after inspecting the facility, described the achievement as a landmark improvement that will drastically reduce delays faced by Nigerians seeking travel documents. He noted that the upgrade was made possible through strategic infrastructure investment without any direct financial cost to the government.

With the new system, passport production has now been centralised, ending the practice of having multiple production points across Nigeria and overseas. This centralisation is expected to tighten security, ensure better monitoring, and improve efficiency in service delivery.

Government officials believe the innovation will not only ease the pressure on passport offices nationwide but also restore public confidence in the immigration service. It is also seen as a step toward modernising identity management and supporting Nigeria’s broader digital transformation agenda.

The centre is now fully operational, and authorities assure applicants that the waiting time for passports will be drastically reduced as the NIS transitions into this new phase of operations.