The Consul General of Nigeria in New York, Amb. Lot Egopija has appealed to the Nigeria Immigration Service (NIS) to provide enhanced e-Passport printers for the Consulates in New York and Atlanta.
Egopija told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in New York that the provision of the printers would improve the passport delivery exercise in the two missions.
NAN reports that the NIS had in May provided some computers and accessories for biometrics at the Consulate General of Nigeria in New York.
The envoy said the authorities only installed the production center in Washington DC mission, noting that Nigerians come to do their biometrics in New York and the Consulate would send the information to DC for production.
Egopija said that the process had been a great impediment to effective passport services with New York Consulate being a base for so many Passport requests.
“We’ve appealed to the authorities to reconsider that Atlanta and New York be giving machines to produce Passports to strengthen and further improve the Passport delivery exercise.
“I think about that’s the only thing I would say has been an impediment. But aside from that, some of the teething problems are addressed as they come in,’’ he said.
Egopija told NAN that the Consulate would be targeting more states for Passport intervention in 2023, noting that the mission is working on recalibrating its machines.
“You know we have migrated from the e-Passport now to the Enhanced e- Passport so we will need to recalibrate our machines
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“Once the machine is recalibrated to meet this new format, then we are opened for business probably in the Springs.
“We’ll be good to go from place to place. We’ll probably start from the places we weren’t able to cover in 2022,’’ he said.
He further explained that the Immigration authorities would need to recalibrate the mobile machine currently used now for the Passport intervention exercise to fit into the new system of enrollment.
In addition, Egopija said the Consulate would continue to hold Town Hall Meetings with the Nigerian community within the New York jurisdiction in 2023, adding that the meeting has also served as a means of uniting Nigerians.
“You know Nigerians are clannish, they work from particular to general and it’s such they go from their local communities to their states and from their states and from state to federal.
“So, we have registered all Nigerian associations within New York Consulate jurisdiction and we have also created a WhatsApp group to communicate with them,’’ he said.
According to him, the Town Hall meeting holds quarterly, and the Consulate has been organizing it since 2021.
“Nigerians have expressed their satisfaction at the way the Consulate in New York and also our missions have been relating to our citizens and nationals.’’
