Abike Dabiri Hails Nigerian Mission In UK For Tackling Passport Racketeering

• Eko Hot Blog had on May 11, 2021, reported that a UK-based Nigerian lady had decried the systemic corruption being perpetrated by officials of the Nigerian High Commission in London.

Hon. Abike Dabiri-Erewa, Chairman/CEO, Nigerians in Diaspora Commission (NIDCOM) has hailed the Nigerian High Commission in the UK for its swift response to tackling passport racketeering in London.

In a statement signed by the Commission’s Head of Media and Public Relations, Abdur-Rahman Balogun, Abike Dabiri lauded the efforts of the new Nigerian High Commissioner to the UK, Amb. Sarafa Tunji Isola, for his tremendous strides since assuming office as ambassador.

Recall that Eko Hot Blog had on May 11, 2021, reported that a UK-based Nigerian lady had decried the systemic corruption being perpetrated by officials of the Nigerian High Commission in London.

According to her, some officials at the embassy have imposed a £200 (£150 for minors) bribe as a siné-qua-non to treat applications outside the queue of applications, thereby extending the waiting period for the thousands of applications in the already clustered backlog.

Amb. Sarafa Tunji Isola upon resumption of duties held several strategic meetings with relevant staff of the mission to brainstorm on the best ways to address the incessant allegations of corruption and other negative reports on the issuance of the Nigerian passport in London as well as restoring the credibility of the mission in the process.

These new efforts led to the discovery that 18 innocent Nigerians have paid between £200 and £350 to racketeers in their bid to urgently renew and acquire the Nigerian passport.

The NIDCOM boss applauded the new Ambassador and his team in their quest to restore the mission’s credibility while urging Nigerian communities to always visit the mission on any matter concerning their stay in the UK and avoid patronizing touts.

Abike Dabiri noted that the mission has confirmed the availability of sufficient passport booklets for deserving applicants.

She joined the UK mission in appreciating the Comptroller-General of the Nigerian Immigration Service for ensuring that adequate passport booklets are available at the High Commission.

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The mission has resumed the Fast-Track services in line with the global practices for Nigerians with urgent reasons for passport renewal.

It will be recalled that the High Commission suspended services to Nigerians in 2020 due to the Covid-19 pandemic and resumed in April 2021 following the lifting of the lockdown restrictions by the British government.

As at 31st March, 2021, there was a backlog of 18,000 applications awaiting processing, which were accumulated between December 2019 to March 2021.

A total of 8,852 out of 9,964 passports were captured from the backlog.