December 17, (THEWILL) – It is obvious something new is happening at the Ministry of Interior under Olubunmi Tunji-Ojo. It took almost forever for Nigerian passport seekers to get their document – that is if they got one in the end. Now, applicants need not wait more than three weeks, thus making real the minister’s claim that applying for a Nigerian passport is a right and not a privilege. THEWILL examines the wind of change sweeping the stale corridors of the ministry since BTO assumed duty last August. Michael Jimoh reports…
There is a recent story of a Nigerian homemaker venting her spleen on Minister of Interior Mr. Olubunmi Tunji-Ojo. It is not that the woman in question is a staff of the ministry nor does she have anything to do with one of the youngest cabinet members in President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s government. There is no remote or direct filial connection either. The only reason for her verbal missiles is on account of her husband who works with the ministry as a senior customs officer.
In a state of hysteria, she recalled to a listener in her neighbourhood last month how she used to ‘bale’ her husband’s leather bag once he returned home from work in one of the Custom’s outpost in Nigeria bordering Benin Republic. While the exhausted spouse retires to the bathroom to freshen up, she, the wife, would be the sole custodian of the bag at that very time. Like some spouses are wont to rifle through the wallets of inebriated husbands at home, the woman would methodically go through the bag where she hoped to find ‘something.’ She has never been disappointed for once. She would quickly help herself to some of the monies lining the bag – most of them foreign currencies.
Needless to say the man would be none the wiser when he finally takes possession of his bag post-shower. This has been the practice for the woman until recently when, she lamented to her neighbour, that “yeye man from Ondo state” was appointed Minister of Interior. According to a source close to the listener, there was no curse the aggrieved woman didn’t lay on the minister that day, calling him a spoiler and enemy of progress.
To the woman, Bunmi Tunji-Ojo or BTO for short might be a spoiler and enemy of progress, but there are more stories.
A regular traveller who spoke with THEWILL last week feels while it will take a lot of work, things are getting better. Preparing for a trip abroad, he told the newspaper he realised his old passport had expired and had to get a renewal done. “The process is simple and straightforward and anyone with a smart phone will get it done easily. The only challenge will be the illiterate and those who cannot use technology. I got my new passport in roughly three weeks.”
Evidence of the system getting better in the Ministry of Interior was in the news last week, though in a small but significant way. An unnamed female official of the Nigeria Customs Service was caught in an embarrassing video soliciting for money from a passenger at the Arrivals of Murtala Mohammed International Airport Ikeja. From N5, 000, the crooked Customs official negotiated with the rather unyielding traveller who insisted on parting with no more than N1000. The woman refused unknown to her she was being recorded by the passenger.
As it is now very well known, she did not get the money. Instead, the woman was captured in the self-indicting video requesting for bribe, “an unprofessional conduct,” Abdullahi Maiwada NCS’s spokesperson said of the incident, insisting that her action is “inconsistent with the values of the agency.”
The woman in question, Maiwada went on, is under investigation, urging members of the public and passengers to report any instances of misconduct or corruption promptly because “these reports are crucial in upholding the integrity of our service and ensuring that officers adhere to the highest ethical standards.”
For a government agency like NCS where there has been endemic corruption for decades, fighting it will take more than just ministerial memos. Where memos may not deter potential bribe takers, technology may just tip the scale in the fight against corruption. Of course, it was technology that busted the NCS official. With the outing of the female customs official at MMA Ikeja, others may be more circumspect now in dealing with travellers.
From the get-go when BTO took command of the Ministry of Interior in August, he made clear how much he wanted to revolutionise things. First was to clear a backlog of passports, over 200, 000 as of last September.
“We inherited 204,332 enrolments without passports being issued,” the minister said at the time. “People that had applied and captured. That was the figure and we gave a marching order because the president was also on our necks to bring solutions and succour to Nigerians. We went into strategic meetings with the NIS and with the support of our service providers, we were able to increase printing machines to four in passport offices where we had two. Our service providers gave us the machines at no cost. The NIS personnel were doing three shifts, working 24/7 to make sure that we cleared the backlogs and to ensure that never again are we going to have backlogs of passport production.”
As expected, everything went swimmingly such that by October I, the 204,332 backlogs had been cleared, adding that from NIS’s record, passports already collected is 91,981 while outstanding but available is 112,351.
For Nigerians who had to wait for months, possibly years to receive their most important international identities abroad, it was indeed a new dawn. BTO actually pegged the waiting time at two weeks but it took three weeks for which he apologised to Nigerians for the extra week. He also let on about innovations in procuring a passport.
Unlike before when hundreds of applicants besieged INS offices, they can now upload their photographs via INS portals for such capture and would only visit the offices for biometric enrollment.
“People will not need to go to passport offices and they are snapping or taking pictures,” BTO let on. “This is 2023. People will be able to upload their passport photographs online with specifications. When you apply for a visa, you do that and we are advancing in that line. Also, your supporting documents should be uploaded online so that when you go to the passport office, it will just be for biometrics and within five minutes you have left there.
“We don’t want the past situation whereby people spend the whole day at the passport offices. So instead of the offices capturing maybe 400 a day, they will be able to accommodate more people. These are some of the innovations we are bringing. Even though we know what the exchange rate is, we are not increasing passport fees.
“The government of President Tinubu understands the needs of the people. As a person, I do not want anybody to go and stay in a passport office for more than 10 minutes.”
How true! Using technology to sort things out may just be the panacea we need. A common complaint levelled by Nigerians at their bureaucratic officials is a lack of feeling. On more than a few online forums there have been testimonies about the effectiveness of the hotlines provided by the minister for citizens to utilise. If this trend continues then we could gradually see the taming of the bad eggs in the system – that is the officers who have created a monstrosity of a system designed to massage their egos and destroy the confidence of Nigerians.
“You go to pay for a service. Your being a Nigerian entitles you to a passport, a basic fundamental right and yet you have to pay extra and still keep on begging officers to do something they are paid to do“ These and other statements by Nigerians who have spoken to THEWILL indicate that the public are watching the ministerial moves and have a stake in the result of the reforms.
It is perhaps in recognition of BTO’s success story so far as Minister of Interior that prompted Femi Salako, publisher of Triangle News Media, to write a piece headlined “Glimpse into Tunji-Ojo’s commitment to transform interior ministry” published in Punch of 6 September 2023.
“Within a week in office, Tunji-Ojo has not only started working, he has successfully sent a message out to all Nigerians that it won’t be business as usual,” Salako wrote. “He has set the ball rolling for a holistic transformation of the ministry. He has reiterated that passports will not be made inaccessible or too expensive for Nigerians to acquire; correctional services will be duly transformed, borders will be effectively secured and the fire service will live up to its expectations. He has continued to show boldness and courage and it’s exciting to see that he carries the fire and passion, and more importantly, the credentials to succeed in this new role.
“Tunji-Ojo has emerged as a visionary minister, poised to usher in an era of transformation within the Ministry of Interior. His passion, readiness, and proactive approach demonstrate his unwavering commitment to Tinubu’s ‘Renewed Hope’ agenda. His engagement with agencies under his purview signals a new dawn for the ministry, underpinned by a dedication to excellence and the collective determination to deliver on the nation’s mandate.”
A two-term House of Representatives member from Ondo state, BTO is undoubtedly one of the rising stars among a constellation of ministers in PBAT’s cabinet, adopting a boots-on-the-ground approach to solving age-old problems in the ministry. Take congestion in correctional facilities in Nigeria, for instance.
Speaking on Arise News in October, the minister let on how he planned to decongest correctional centres. “Immediately I assumed office, the first thing I did was to set up a small committee to be able to review the situation of our correctional centres, vis-à-vis the inmates as they are, and we discovered that over 4,000 of these inmates, as I’ve said before, are still in custody due to inability to pay fines. We looked at how much they owe, total fine is about total of five hundred and something million, and I can tell you we’ve gone very far dealing with the private sector in terms of CSR and etcetera, putting this money together.
“And I’m sure that in the next three weeks or one month, four weeks maximum, because I like to be held responsible for what I say, so let me say in the next four weeks, even though we are looking at doing it before then, but I’m giving myself a buffer. So, in the next four weeks, by the grace of God, we will have been able to pay those fines of over 4,000 people which will reduce us from the present almost 79,000 inmates to about 75,000 inmates.”
At least for now, BTO is getting a housewife worked up because her husband no longer returns with bribe money. It is a good sign.
About the Author
Michael Jimoh is a Nigerian journalist with many years experience in print media. He is currently a Special Correspondent with THEWILL.
