By Babajide Komolafe, Economy Editor

The painful experience of many Nigerians in the quest for international passports is gradually becoming a thing of the past.

Going by experience of this reporter at the Festac Passport Office, (FPO) Lagos, applicants for international passports can now achieve biometric enrolment (data capture) within an average of 180 minutes (one hour 30 minutes).

This is made possible by the orderly, transparent, and time-saving measures deployed by the leadership of the Festac Passport Office, led by the Passport Control Officer, Deputy Comptroller of Immigration, DCI, Ifedapo Osewolo resumed office last month. Osewolo’s impact on the organisation of the Festac Passport Office reflects his many years of experience in passports and other immigration-related services, having worked in Osun Command, International Airport, and Foreign Services.

The Festac Passport office, Lagos is one of the processing centres under the e-Passport regime. The online passport application portal are designed to transform the application process for orderliness, transparency and integrity.

On the online portal, applicants will fill the form and select a passport processing centre, choose a payment option and make a payment, book an appointment for biometric enrolment. Thereafter the applicant proceeds to the passport processing centre for enrolment on the scheduled date. After the biometric enrolment, the applicant waits for passport pick-up notification (via SMS).

The waiting period, after data capture, for the fresh application period after data capture is six weeks and while it is three weeks for renewal. This timeline enables the NIS to verify applicants’ claims and confer integrity on the passport issued.

However, the applicant details with the National Identity Number, NIN, must be the same with the data on your application. This is because any discrepancy will stall the application until it is corrected.

Critical to the applicant’s experience under the e-Passport regime is the orderliness and transparency of the data capture process at the passport processing centers. In this regard the Osewolo and his team at the Festac Passport Office, Lagos have implemented a series of measures that ensures pain and delay free experience for applicants.

A first-hand experience of the measures was experienced by this reporter who recently visited the office for his data capture.

First, entrance to the office is restricted to applicants. At the main entrance, access is granted only to applicants or visitors on passport related business.

The first point of contact for online applicants is the Servicom Unit office, where officials receive the appointment booking slip, review the accompanying documents and verify that applicants’ NIN details are the same with the data supplied during the online application. In the absence of any documentation issues or NIN misalignment, the applicant completes this stage in 15 minutes and is cleared to proceed to the pre-data capture ‘Waiting Room’.

While applicants at the waiting room may number between 30 to 40, as observed by this reporter, the average waiting time is 45 minutes. Immigration officials come at about 15 minute intervals with files of applicants that have been cleared for data capture. The applicant owners of the files, upon hearing their name, follow the immigration official to the data capture unit office.

At the data capture unit office, there is a queue system which ensures orderly and timely capture. Hence, the applicant is done within 20 to 30 minutes of stay at the unit, collects his/her file and the confirmation slip and goes back to the Servicom Unit, where the file and a copy of the confirmation slips are submitted.