The Nigerian government has been called upon to increase the capacity of the Nigeria Immigration Service on the investigation of visa and passport fraud.
This was the outcome of a training session on security features of the new Next Generation U.S. Passport, which focused on recent fraud and counterfeiting trends.
The training involved officials from the U.S. Consulate’s Diplomatic Security Service office of overseas criminal investigations and the Nigeria Immigration Service document fraud unit
The American government says it is proud of the growing partnership between its Consulate and the Nigeria Immigration Service.
Meanwhile; some officials of the Nigeria Immigration Service have been found to be working with people outside the agency to defraud Nigerians who apply for the international passport.
The fraudulent practice is said to be common at the NIS Passport Offices in Ikoyi and Festac Town in Lagos, and the Passport Office in Abuja.
At those locations, applicants for the Nigerian international passport are forced to pay almost double the approved cost for the documents.
The government approved fee for a 32-page international passport for five years is twenty-seven thousand naira.
However; applicants are charged forty-five thousand naira for the same document by immigration officials who work with agents from inside.
This was made known by the Acting Comptroller-General of the Nigeria Immigration Service, Isa Idris.
He said he personally discovered the fraudulent practice after an undercover operation at the Passport Offices in Lagos and Abuja.
Speaking further; the Isa Idris, said a new system would be introduced by the Nigerian Immigration Service to check the fraudulent activities by officers in the passport offices.