In news reports, scarcity of e-passport booklets is looming, caused by the non-payment of production debt to vendors and major stakeholders involved in the value chain of the travel document. It is touted that unless the Federal Government, through the offices of the minister of finance and the accountant general of the federation (AGF), halts its monthly deduction of the whooping 50 percent fund from the income paid into the Nigeria Immigration Service (NIS) Treasury Single Account (TSA) from passport sales, specifically opened for the acquisition of the e-passports, the looming scarcity of the e-passport is imminent.
A top source at the passport office at the Nigeria Immigration Service headquarters, Abuja clarified that the misconception is that the gross income paid by passport applicants goes directly to the NIS TSA, from where the service is supposed to make payment to all stakeholders involved in the passport value chain. He lamented that, unfortunately, before the said income drops, the Federal Government, which regards the money as net income, takes out 50 percent, leaving the Immigration service with a shortfall that impedes payment to vendors and service to all stakeholders involved in the passport production process.
