Nigerians implore Federal Government to send passport printers to New York.
The Nigeria Consulate in New York has once again been asked by Nigerians living in the Big Apple to request passport production printers from the federal government in order to improve the efficiency of passport services in the United States.
The worried Nigerians made the call during the 12th virtual Town Hall Meeting hosted by the Consulate for the Nigerian Community.
All twenty states that make up the New York Jurisdiction are as follows: Delaware, Illinois, Iowa, Maine, Massachusetts, Michigan, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, North Dakota, Ohio, and Nebraska.
Rhode Island, Pennsylvania, South Dakota, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Vermont, and the other states are among them.
During the meeting’s question-and-answer session, Nigerians expressed confusion over why the United States government uses just one facility to print passports: the one in Washington, D.C.
There are three Nigerian embassies and consulates general in the US: one in Atlanta, Georgia, and two in New York City.
U.S. passports are only manufactured at the U.S. Embassy in Washington, DC; biometric data is collected at consulates and sent to the embassy.
Their main issue was with the choice to assign two passport production printers to a centre that oversees ten states, whereas the New York Consulate is responsible for twenty.
If what they say is true, the New York Consulate receives more applications from more states than any other American consulate.
Additionally, they expressed a desire to take it upon themselves to acquire the devices and questioned the Federal Government’s reaction to multiple appeals about this matter.
The meeting’s moderator, Mr. Olayinka DanSalami, also expressed similar views to the worried Nigerians, adding that his group and its allies had just brought the matter to the attention of the federal government.
In a February 6th petition, twenty New York-based partners of the Organisation for the Advancement of Nigerians (OAN) urged the United States government to equip the Atlanta and New York consulates with passport production printers.
As an umbrella body, OAN voiced its displeasure with the two consulates’ printer shortage in a letter sent to Dr. Olubunmi Tunji-Ojo, Nigeria’s Minister of Interior.
Nevertheless, Dansalami—who is also a member of the OAN board—invited other Nigerian groups to join the effort to get the equipment supplied to the two consulates so that they can provide better consular services.
The concerned Nigerians were commended by Amb. Lot Egopija, the Consul General of Nigeria in New York, for their zeal in their reaction. He hoped that the equipment would be delivered to the Consulate shortly.
In the next round of passport production machine issue, we have been informed that the government would supply the printers to the New York and Atlanta Consulates.
Before the town hall gathering, the Nigerian envoy expressed gratitude to the citizens for their dedication to coming and providing comments.
He assured the citizens that their passports will be issued within the allotted period.