Minister Slam NIS For Asking Married Women To Travel To Abuja For Change Of Name

Interior Minister Olubunmi Tunji-Ojo has berated officials of the Nigeria Immigration Service NIS for always asking people, especially married women, to go to its headquarters in Abuja to change their names on their passports.

WeThe minister, who described the act as “stupid”, spoke at a dinner with members of the Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu ABAT Media Centre and some social media influencers in Abuja.

“There is one stupid thing I have seen and it is that a woman gets married, changes her name, and then she has to come to Abuja all the way from say Kaura Namoda or Enugu just to come and effect a change of name in her passport. It is absurd.

“I can’t just figure it that you want to change just your name and you have to be in Abuja. I have asked the immigration people, is it that immigration people in Abuja have more than one head than those in the states?” he asked.

Tunji-Ojo said there is nowhere in the world where women are subjected to such inhuman practice on account of marriage.
The minister queried if NIS personnel in Abuja were special than those in the various passport offices across the federation.

Tunji-Ojo announced that as from March, the new passport reforms he is putting in place would ensure contactless biometrics enrolment in order to allow Nigerians do their enrolments from their comfort zones.

Adding that with the new reforms, you don’t need to travel to Abuja to change your data. Everything will be done online.