Executive Secretary, Muslim Pilgrims Welfare Board, Alhaji Salau Dauda (6th left); Comptroller of Immigration Service, Yakubu Umar (6th right), Director of Admin. & Supplies, OGMPWB, Mr. Ajibola Taiwo (5th right) and other management staff of the Board in a group photograph with NIS top officers during a courtesy visit to Comptroller, NIS, Ogun State Command, Oke-Mosan, Abeokuta
Press Release
Executive Secretary, Ogun State Muslim Pilgrims Welfare Board, Alhaji Salau Dauda has appealed to the Nigeria Immigration Service to fast-track issuance of the International Passport to the 2023 Ogun State intending pilgrims.
Alhaji Dauda, made the appeal during a courtesy call on the Comptroller of NIS, Ogun State Command, Mr. Yakubu Umar at the Command State headquarters, Oke-Mosan Abeokuta.
He said the visit was necessary to checkmate the problems encountered during last year’s Hajj operation and also to give special consideration to intending pilgrims in their issuance of passports.
Salau stated that NIS is one of the key agencies to reckon with in the Hajj operation and issuance of international passports as the number one basic travel document needed before embarking on an international journey.
“We want to give kudos to Immigration Service for your support, all these years, we are here again to ask for continued unalloyed support, we don’t want our intended pilgrims to go through stress before getting their passport done”, Salau said.
He then appealed to the Command to critically look into the issue of passport flaws that the Board usually faced during the documentation process for Visa issuance.
In his response, the Comptroller of Immigration Service, Mr. Yakubu Umar, advised the intending pilgrims to apply for their passports as early as possible while renewal should be done six months before the expiration, going by the law, adding that issues relating to passports should be forwarded to his office.
He said the Command is ready to give the necessary support needed for a successful Hajj operation, promising that this year’s Hajj would be the best.
Lending his voice, the Assistant Controller of Immigration (ACI), who also doubles as Passport Control Officer, Mr. Adekunle Adebowale identified with the issues raised by the Executive Secretary, promised that the Command would look into it critically, advising the Board to communicate the intending pilgrims on the early application for a passport to avoid unforeseen development.
Nofisat Alapoti & Gafar Alabi
Press Officers OGMPWB
