Aregbesola advises Nigerians with dual citizenship against applying for e-passport

Authors:

bayo wahab

November 23, 2019 5:12 PM

Aregbesola urges every Nigerian who renounces he or her Nigerian citizenship not to apply for the e-passport.

The Minister of Interior, Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola [twitter/@raufaregbesola]

Minister of Interior, Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola, has advised Nigerians with dual citizenship against applying for e-passport.

While speaking at the Nigerian High Commission in Tokyo on Friday, November 22, 2019, during the roll-out of the e-passport, Aregbesola told Nigerians, who have accepted Japanese citizenship that a new visa regime that would grant them multiple entries into Nigeria up to the validity of their Japanese passports would commence soon, Punch reports.

The minister said, “I am aware that Japan does not accept dual citizenship, although Nigeria does. Because of this, I urge every Nigerian who renounces he or her Nigerian citizenship not to apply for the e-passport at this centre or anywhere.

“I will like to assure those Nigerian-Japanese who have accepted Japanese citizenship that a new visa regime that will grant them multiple entries into Nigeria up to the validity of their Japanese passports will commence soon.”

Aregbesola added that his ministry had received several requests from Nigerians in Japan asking the Federal Government to open a passport issuance centre in Tokyo due to the distance they had to cover in order to obtain it.

Responding to the request, the minister said President Muhammadu Buhari has approved the issuance of both e-passports and biometric visa in Japan.

He said, “Suffice to say that this provision and service is not limited to Tokyo, Japan; we will open tomorrow (Saturday) another e-passport and biometric visa facilities in our Embassy in Seoul, South Korea, bringing to a total of 44 foreign missions, 43 local and four front offices where Nigeria Immigration Service issues passports to our citizens.”