The Minister of Interior, Olatunji Olubunmi-Ojo, has said Nigeria has entered a new era in passport production with the establishment of a world-class centralised personalisation centre in Abuja, a development he described as the first of its kind since 1963.

Speaking at the International Civil Service Conference 2026 in Abuja, the minister said the reform has transformed passport production from a slow, manual and fragmented process into a system driven by automation, integration and efficiency. He said the country can now produce “nothing less than 10,000 passports per hour” under the new arrangement, stressing that the innovation marks a major shift in the management of internal security services and public administration.

“For the first time since 1963, we have a world-class centralised personalisation centre in Abuja,” Olubunmi-Ojo said. “And what that means is that from a system that could do 400 or 500 passports per hour, in all over the world, we could barely do three, four thousand a day or per hour. Today, we are in a position to do nothing less than 10,000 passports per hour with a centralised level of control.”

The minister said the centre was part of a broader effort to modernise the ministry’s operations and eliminate the inefficiencies that had long plagued passport issuance. According to him, the old system left room for delays, duplication and unnecessary contact between applicants and officials, a situation he said was no longer acceptable in a digital age.

“When we came aboard, we inherited over 200,000 backlogs of passports, and it was like it was a miracle for you to get a passport you pay for,” he said. “But today, to the glory of God, we started that, we automated the process. Let people speak to systems, not people speaking to people. When people speak to systems, system brings, it enhances efficiency.”

Olubunmi-Ojo said the automation drive has helped the ministry clear a huge chunk of the inherited backlog in record time. He disclosed that 270,000 pending passport applications were cleared in less than three weeks, adding that the ministry has since produced more than 3.6 million passports.

“We cleared 270,000 backlogs of about three years. We’ve cleared it in less than three weeks,” he said. “And today we have been able to produce over 3.6 million passports since we came aboard.”

He said the transformation was not accidental but the result of a deliberate push to fix a broken process and replace it with one that gives citizens faster and more predictable service. For him, the passport system is one of the clearest examples of how public institutions can move from bureaucracy to results when technology is properly deployed.

The minister said the new system also reflects a wider principle of governance that he has repeatedly pushed within the ministry: that public service must be judged by outcomes, not excuses. “In the 21st century, business as usual has no place in public service,” he said earlier in the address. “Nigerians didn’t invest their trust in us, either as politicians or public servants, to proffer excuses. The only thing that counts and matters is results.”

He argued that reform begins with a clear understanding of the problem, saying government must first know “what is” before deciding “what ought to be.” In his words, “You must understand the problem for you to proffer solutions,” adding that too often institutions attempt to solve challenges they do not fully understand.

Olubunmi-Ojo also framed the passport reform as part of a larger citizen-focused approach to governance. He said the ministry Is moving away from a process-centered system to one that puts the experience of the public first. “True transformation demands transitioning from process-centered administration to governance that prioritizes citizens’ experience,” he said.

The minister insisted that the old culture of preserving outdated processes must give way to innovation. “If the usual is what makes you comfortable, then you can never be outstanding and you can never be extraordinary,” he said. “You do not need to be a genius to do what is usual and to do what is normal.”

He said the ministry’s achievement in passport production shows what is possible when leadership is willing to confront entrenched habits and demand better systems. “Visionary leadership is not defined by authority or position, but by the capacity to imagine systems that function better than those inherited,” he said.

Olubunmi-Ojo added that he will not blame himself for the ministry he inherited in 2023, but that he would take responsibility if he leaves the same problems behind for his successor. “I will never blame myself for the Ministry of Interior that I inherited in 2023,” he said. “But the blame will always be mine if I hand over the same Ministry of Interior, the same situation to my successor.”

The passport reforms, he said, are proof that with the right systems in place, public institutions can deliver faster service, stronger control and greater public confidence. He described the new Abuja centre as a symbol of that shift, saying it demonstrates that Nigeria no longer has to accept delays and inefficiency as normal.

“The era of waiting and bringing corn is gone,” he said, using a local expression to describe the end of unnecessary delays and informal bottlenecks. “That issue of waiting and bringing corn, that is not us as Nigerians. And the system has been built to solve these problems.” (Daily Sun)

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