In January 2024 when I wrote that “Interior Minister Olubunmi Tunji-Ojo will NEVER be able to revolutionise Nigeria’s messily-corrupt passport application system”, some accused me of prophesying doom.
But it is now six months since I paid and applied for the renewal of my… pic.twitter.com/bPwBxUsT2e
— ‘Fisayo Soyombo (@fisayosoyombo) January 13, 2026
In January 2024 when I wrote that “Interior Minister Olubunmi Tunji-Ojo will NEVER be able to revolutionise Nigeria’s messily-corrupt passport application system”, some accused me of prophesying doom.
But it is now six months since I paid and applied for the renewal of my international passport. Maybe I will get it tomorrow.
On Thursday July 31, 2025, I paid a sum of N109,700 via the Nigeria Immigration Service (NIS) payment portal, then proceeded to one of their Lagos offices, to complete further documentation and capture. Meanwhile, the officers first mocked us for kick-starting the registration online.
I couldn’t complete capturing on that day due to a “network problem” that lasted several hours; I was forced to return to their office the following day for that. As I write this, “passport pending production” is the long-running feedback from NIS.
The irony is that Olubunmi Tunji-Ojo continues to be lauded by the unsuspecting public as one of the best — even the best — ministers in Tinubu’s cabinet. It is already almost five months since Tunji-Ojo announced, in the latest of his many mouthwatering passport efficacy promises, that Nigerians would be able to receive their int’l passports one week after application.
My opinion of him remains unchanged; he is simply the typical Nigerian politician who has a mastery of gallery play and public sentiment manipulation via the media for personal branding.
Woe unto you if you rely on media reports to gauge the performance of public officers or, more importantly, the efficiency of public institutions!