While addressing a group of Nigerians in the US, Amb. Gabriel Aduda, the Permanent Secretary of Ministry of Foreign Affairs spoke on the plan of the Nigerian mission in the US to expand passport offices in other clear the backlog of passport applications.
Particularly, he made reference to immediate plan to open the mission office in Texas, and a further plan to also open the mission office in San Francisco. This according to him has become necessary owing to the size of Nigerians in the United States.
Speaking, the ambassador said “We are mindful that we need to cover the U.S. a bit more because of your size. We are considering reopening the San Francisco mission soon.
“Perhaps, if need be, we may open a mission in Texas because of the huge population of Nigerians residing there but we will pay attention to San Francisco for now.
“Let us see how we can reduce traffic coming from the West to New York, Atlanta and Washington, DC. So we are working hard to get it done,’’ he said.
Aduda, while reacting to questions from a hybrid Town Hall meeting organised by the Consulate-General of Nigeria in New York for nationals within its jurisdiction, assured Nigerians living in the U.S. of improved passport services.
The permanent secretary, in his intervention, urged Nigerian missions to make town hall meetings a regular feature, adding that without Nigerians in any country, there will not be any need for a mission.
He said holding regular meetings with nationals would enable Nigerians hold the Consulates accountable while assuring the consulate in New York of the ministry’s support for sustaining the town hall.
In further reaction to backlogs of passports, Aduda blamed the experience on COVID-19 pandemic which he said brought about dry spell in the production of passports, adding that it created a problem in all the missions across the world.
He said “In London alone, they had a shortfall of 19,000 passports and they tried to cover the lost ground. Initially, 10,000 passports were injected and we put more until they were cleared.
“The same thing in New York, Washington D.C., and Atlanta; we have a huge gap that we are still ready to fill. Also, back home in Nigeria, it is the same problem.
“People applied for passports for months but they could not get them because the booklets were not available. But as I speak, a lot is being done to cover the gaps”
