Nigerians living in the United Kingdom have raised concerns over what they described as prolonged delays and disorganised procedures at the Nigerian Passport Intervention Centre in Birmingham.
A viral video from the centre, showed a large crowd waiting outside the facility for hours as they anticipated the start of their passport capturing.
Many applicants were seen standing around the premises with no official in sight.
In the clip, a woman narrated that hundreds of applicants had arrived as early as 4am on Friday after submitting their names the previous day.
She said they were assured that the capturing exercise would begin promptly the next morning.
“They promised they’re going to start at 9am and at 12pm when I was leaving, they’ve not even started attending to people. We heard that the officials were not even at the scene,” she said.
The video later captured the arrival of some officials, with the narrator alleging that they advised the applicants to return the next day.
She claimed to recognise one of them from the previous day and criticised the handling of the process, noting that many people came with infants.
“It’s so shameful that Nigeria will still happen to you even if you’re outside Nigeria. It’s the people, not only the government,” she added.
A separate user, identified as OduduAbasi Umo Odiong, also shared short clips showing agitated applicants at the centre, saying the situation was becoming tense.
“People are already getting agitated today. The frustration is rising and the situation is becoming tense,” he captioned.
However, another X user, Williams Ibironke, countered the claims, insisting the officials had been overstretched by long work hours.
“The information she posted was purposely made as content to miss direct people. those pple are working til midnight everyday, they closed @3am so how can they resume early again. I did mine @12:33am this morning and I still left people there, meaning they may not close until 2am,” he posted.
Other Nigerians on social media urged the Minister of Interior, Olubunmi Tunji Ojo, to intervene urgently, questioning why recent reforms in passport processing had not prevented such delays.
“Someone has fingered a working system to their benefit. Just a few weeks ago, you can start and finish your passport renewal process on your mobile phone without leaving your home. What happened to that positive change?” one user asked.
Efforts to obtain comments from the Minister and the Ministry of Interior were unsuccessful at the time of filing this report, as messages sent to both parties were not acknowledged.
Watch video HERE
