The lingering challenges associated with consular services in Nigerian Foreign Missions which has posed some difficulties for the Nigerian Diaspora and some foreign nationals will soon be resolved, the Nigerian government stated.
Indications to this development emerged when the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Geoffrey Onyeama met his counterpart from the Ministry of Interior, Rauf Aregbesola and the Acting Comptroller General of the Nigerian Immigration Service (NIS) Isa Jere Idris at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Abuja yesterday.
The meeting may have been connected with reported difficulties in the issuance of Nigerian passports, passport renewal, procuring visas and other related consular matters.
Nigerians in the Diaspora and foreign nationals willing to come to Nigeria have some time ago complained about the pain of procuring Nigerian passports and visas, calling on the government to address the issues.
Speaking to reporters after a closed door meeting, Onyeama said the meeting was “an extremely fruitful”. He said further that “of course we faced in the past huge challenges in the area of consular matters and I am just delighted to say that we are really on the same page institutionally and everything else and the best is really yet to come.
“There is a lot that is now being done and the bad old days are going to be very much behind us. We are entering a whole new era of consular relations for Nigerians outside this country and also for foreigners applying to come into the country,” he said.
He lauded the efforts of the Minister of Interior and the Acting CG of immigration for the excellent work they are doing, even as he pledged more cooperation with them to see a complete new era on consular affairs for Nigeria.
Also speaking to reporters, Aregbesola said the two sides have reviewed the areas where there are challenges and are working on resolving them.
“The discussion we had was very rich and revealing. We have identified areas requiring us to review and committees have been set up to look at those. I am confident that within the shortest possible time we will resolve the differences and make our relationship on consular matters very seamless, effective and efficient for the benefit of Nigerians in the Diaspora.
On the issue of shortage of passports for Nigerians, the Minister said the matter has been resolved, stressing that Nigerians who require passports get it within the period stipulated for its issuance, which he said is maximum of three weeks for re-issue and maximum of six weeks for new application.
