Buhari blamed for senseless Nigeria passport crises

Buhari

Muhammadu Buhari, Nigeria’s incumbent president, has been squarely blamed for the current passport crises rocking the country.
For some time now, Nigerians trying to acquire passports so they can travel out of the country for various reasons have been having a hard time of doing so as the Nigeria Immigration Service which is responsible for issuing passports gives them a flabbergasting excuse: passport booklets are not available.

Speaking under condition of anonymity so as not to be victimised, a Nigerian man who’s applied for a passport and doesn’t know when he’ll receive it, told Oseyiza Oogbodo Blog that “this passport crises is just senseless and I blame Buhari squarely for it. I mean, how can a country not be able to issue its passport to its citizens? If a government in power can’t handle the extremely simple task of issuing passports, then it’s obvious that government doesn’t know what it’s doing, that government is incompetent, and that’s calling a spade a spade.

“Let’s be candid here. What’s a passport? It’s just pieces of paper, and paper is one of the most available products in the world so why should passport booklets be unavailable? I already knew there will be passport issues when I saw on TV Buhari approving a new ten-year passport for seventy thousand naira.

“When I saw him doing that, I was disappointed immediately and remain disappointed because this is a country having issues with the labour force over a minimum wage of thirty thousand naira yet Buhari approves a passport for seventy thousand naira.

“The implication to me is that people are being encouraged to take to crime because a passport’s amount shouldn’t be more than the minimum wage. It shouldn’t even be close to it in its amount. I’m sure that in sensibly-led countries, their passports are very affordable unlike here in Nigeria where even the passport said to be standard is thirty thousand naira, equivalent of the minimum wage the government is still wrangling over.

“As far as I’m concerned, the Nigerian passport shouldn’t be more than five hundred naira, after all, it’s just paper, and even textbooks which are more important to human beings are not even as expensive as the passport price of seventy thousand naira.

“So I do blame Buhari for this passport issue because I recall there’s a story that says when Murtala Muhammed was head of state, he said the passport was mandatory for every Nigerian, that it was a right, not a privilege, and the passport was actually being delivered to people in their homes unlike now where you pay through the nose for it and yet you’re told there are no booklets to make it for you.”