Travel Ban: COVID-19 violators cannot get new passports – NIS Boss

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BY Victoria Ogunrinde

The Comptroller-General, Nigeria Immigration Service, Muhammad Babandede, has said the 100 travelers under travel ban cannot obtain new passports.

He explained that the system would automatically detect and raise the alarm if any of the violators applied for passport re-issuance.

Meanwhile, Babandedr made the clarification following concerns that the violators whose passports had been seized might attempt to obtain new passports and sneak out of the country.

Aspheric earlier reported that the affected individuals had been placed under six-month travel ban by the Federal Government with effect from January 1.

The NIS Boss who shed more light on how the NIS system works in a telephone interview with the punch on Monday, said, “It is not possible for them to apply for new passports; we have passed that level in the Nigeria Immigration Service. The system will not re-issue the passport even if they lost their passports or say they want to change them; it would never work.”

Meanwhile, Babandede has directed NIS formations to enforce the travel ban imposed on 100 travellers who allegedly flouted the mandatory seven-day post-arrival COVID-19 polymerase chain reaction test.

The CG in a statement on Monday by the NIS Spokesman, Sunday James, stated that the affected passengers had been notified and would be prevented from passport re-issuance and travelling outside the country during the period.