Some Nigerians in Italy have lamented over the scarcity of the Nigerian passport, a situation they reveal has seen a lot of them being disengaged from work over failure to produce valid passports.
In a recent open letter to President Muhammadu Buhari, the affected Nigerians, under the aegies of the National Union of Nigerians Associations in Italy (NUNAI), signed by its President, Rowland Ndukuba, appealed to the Nigerian authorities to make sure there is a regular supply of passports to the Nigerian embassy in Italy to enable Nigerians renew their passports.
In the letter, Ndukuba said: “This appeal has become necessary as a lot of Nigerians are being stopped from their various jobs because they are unable to present a valid passport to renew their working contract and their residency to stay in Italy.”
Also, Ndukuba directed the Union’s appeal to the Ministries of Foreign Affairs and Interior, and the Nigerian Immigration Service (NIS). He added that the inability of Nigerians to renew their passports was threatening the livelihood of members’.
“NUNAI wishes to lay a very strong appeal to the Ministers of Interior and Foreign Affairs, including the Controller-General of the Nigeria Immigration Service, to save thousands of Nigerians living in Italy,” the group said.
However, the group acknowledged that the Nigerian embassy in Rome “is doing everything possible to clear the backlog of seven months on the ground as those that were scanned in the middle of May to date are yet to get their passport printing.”
“From our investigations, the Nigerian embassy in Rome captured nothing less than 3,000 Nigerians in a month for passport, and the mission received passport booklets of 1,500, 1,000, and even 500 on an irregular monthly basis.
“But the situation would have been manageable if the supply was even regular on a monthly basis.
“The lack of booklets to produce those captured already is one reason we are making this appeal. On behalf of all Nigerians in Italy, the union will be very grateful if our appeal is urgently granted.”
