In a country where citizens often approach government services with caution and scepticism, that achievement should not be dismissed… The stories I heard were not stories of political slogans or official promises. They were stories of ordinary Nigerians whose lives have become a little easier because a public service finally works the way it should.
For many Nigerians living abroad, renewing a Nigerian passport was once a task dreaded almost as much as losing the passport itself.
|
|
It was a process associated with long waits, expensive journeys, uncertainty and frustration. Many accepted it as one of those realities of dealing with government services back home. The expectation was simple: prepare for delays, inconvenience and endless follow-ups.
That was why I was initially sceptical when I began hearing claims that Nigerians in the United Kingdom could now renew their passports from home and receive them at their doorsteps within days.
|
|
|
|---|
It sounded too good to be true.
So I travelled across several cities in the UK and spoke with Nigerians who had firsthand experiences with the contactless passport renewal system introduced by the Nigeria Immigration service and Ministry of Interior, under Comptroller General, Kemi Nanna Nandap, and Minister Olubunmi Tunji-Ojo.
What I found was not just a few isolated success stories. From Birmingham to Coventry, Newport, Leeds, Essex and London, the accounts were remarkably similar. Nigerians who once spent months waiting for passports were now speaking about processing applications from their living rooms and receiving new passports at their doorsteps within days.
For once, the conversation was not about complaints. It was about satisfaction.
One of the people I met was Timileyin Gbenga, a community leader based in Birmingham. He recalled his experience under the old system.
He told me that his previous passport renewal took more than six months from application to collection. The process required travelling from Birmingham to London for biometrics and enduring lengthy delays before the document was eventually issued.
When he recently helped a family member use the contactless system, however, the outcome was completely different.
According to him, the passport arrived in less than two weeks.
That contrast captures the essence of the reform.
For years, distance was one of the greatest obstacles facing Nigerians in the diaspora. Regardless of whether an applicant lived in Birmingham, Leeds, Cardiff or Manchester, travelling to London was often unavoidable. Transport costs, accommodation expenses and time away from work were all part of the hidden costs of passport renewal.
The contactless system appears to have eliminated much of that burden.
In Essex, Adeku Adeola Victoria described completing her passport renewal entirely from home.
She said she received her passport roughly a week after applying and was so impressed by the process that she encouraged a friend to abandon plans to travel to London and instead apply online. Her friend also received her passport within two weeks.
In Newport, South Wales, another Nigerian, Adiku Adeyemi, shared a similar experience involving his wife’s passport renewal. The document, he said, was delivered directly to their home just days after registration.
As I listened to these stories, one thing became clear: the excitement was not solely about speed. It was about dignity and convenience.
Government services are not supposed to be endurance tests. Citizens should not have to sacrifice workdays, spend hundreds of pounds on transport or navigate unnecessary bureaucracy to obtain basic documents.
The real achievement of the reform is that it is bringing service delivery closer to what citizens reasonably expect in the digital age.
The most striking testimonies came from Coventry and Leeds.
Mr Rufus Idowu, an automation engineer with Royal Mail and a community leader in Coventry, said some Nigerians received their passports within five days.
Comrade Adebayo Segun in Leeds told me that he obtained his son’s passport in just four days, a timeline he described as unprecedented in his experience in dealing with Nigerian government services.
Whether every application is completed within four or five days is not the point. What matters is that such turnaround times are now possible at all.
For decades, passport delays have been one of the most persistent complaints among Nigerians abroad. Missed travel plans, expired documents and endless uncertainty became commonplace.
The fact that many applicants now measure processing times in days rather than months represents a significant shift.
Perhaps the most interesting perspective came from Dr Adekunle Shonola, president of Nigerians in Coventry and a senior lecturer in Artificial Intelligence and Data Analytics at Coventry University.
As someone familiar with both the British and Nigerian systems, he believes Nigeria is finally moving closer to international standards in passport administration.
He recalled the days when applicants travelled repeatedly between Coventry and London for biometrics and passport collection, often waiting more than six months.
Today, he says, members of his community are receiving passports within a week.
His assessment resonated with many others I met.
Again and again, people spoke not only about efficiency but about modernisation. They viewed the reform as evidence that government services can work when technology is properly deployed.
Coventry resident Gbenga Ogunderu described the old process as “analog” and “backward,” contrasting it with a system that now allows people to apply from home and receive passports without stress.
His comment stayed with me: “This is 2026. We should be doing this.”
Indeed, we should.
Of course, no reform should be judged solely by its launch phase. Sustaining performance is often more difficult than introducing change.
Many of those I interviewed acknowledged this reality.
Dr Shonola believes the next challenge is ensuring that the system becomes fully integrated and accessible to Nigerians everywhere, not only in the UK.
Engineer Idowu emphasised sustainability, arguing that consistency will determine whether today’s success becomes a permanent feature of public service delivery.
Their concerns are valid.
Nigeria has witnessed promising reforms before, only for the momentum to fade over time. The true test of the contactless passport initiative will be whether it remains efficient, reliable and continuously improved in the years ahead.
Yet after speaking with Nigerians across the United Kingdom, one conclusion is difficult to avoid.
The passport reform is doing something rare in Nigeria’s public sector: it is exceeding expectations.
In a country where citizens often approach government services with caution and scepticism, that achievement should not be dismissed.
The stories I heard were not stories of political slogans or official promises. They were stories of ordinary Nigerians whose lives have become a little easier because a public service finally works the way it should.
Sometimes, that is what meaningful reform looks like.
Israel Fagbemigun, who recently returned from the United Kingdom, writes from Abuja.
