INIS clarifies UK passport intervention as applicants being attended to in London
The Nigeria Immigration Service NIS has clarified reports of disruption at its ongoing passport intervention exercise in the United Kingdom, attributing the initial delay to a brief technical downtime that affected biometric capturing, particularly at the Manchester centre.
Videos circulated on social media on Monday showed applicants gathered outside the intervention centre in Manchester, with some expressing frustration over the delay and the time spent waiting to be attended to.
While the concerns of applicants are understandable, the NIS has confirmed that the technical issue was promptly resolved, allowing the exercise to continue.
Importantly, the intervention is currently ongoing in London, where applicants are being attended to in an orderly and coordinated manner.
According to the Service, 230 applicants with scheduled appointments were successfully processed on the first day. 90 were attended to in London while 140 were attended to in Manchester.
This means that while the exercise experienced a technical challenge at the outset, it was not abandoned or suspended. Operations resumed after the issue was addressed.
The special intervention exercise is aimed at providing passport services to Nigerians in the United Kingdom and addressing outstanding applications, renewals and other pending passport related cases.
For applicants currently attending in London, the process is proceeding in an orderly manner, with officials attending to those who have appointments.
The disruption was therefore a technical issue and not a shutdown of the passport intervention exercise.
What matters now is that the system has been restored and the exercise is continuing, with applicants receiving the services they came for.
For now, the passport intervention is ongoing, applicants are being attended to, and the technical challenge has been resolved.
