The Minister of Information and National Orientation, Mohammed Idris, on Tuesday sought the collaboration of the Ministry of Interior to strengthen communication between the Federal Government and Nigerians.
Idris said this when he paid a courtesy visit to the Minister of Interior, Dr Olubunmi Tunji-Ojo, in Abuja, pledging to communicate the reforms executed by the Ministry of Interior to the public.
According to him, “Our job is to ensure that whatever we do, whatever the administration does, the Nigerian public hears it and aligns with it. This is primarily our responsibility.
“For me, as Minister of Information and National Orientation, we felt that it is absolutely important for us not just to sit in our offices and wait for you to come for press briefings.
“We have selected key ministries to go and interact with them, hear them out, because we are a service ministry, bridging the gap between what you do and what Nigerians ought to know or what they should know.
“Therefore, it is important for us to always step out of our comfort zone to come.
“We have been to other ministries, and we thought that we should come here and hear you out and align some of those things that you do so that we can have the same direction for our country.”
The minister recalled that since the administration of President Bola Tinubu assumed office in 2023, Nigeria had witnessed unprecedented reforms.
“Nigeria has witnessed, for the first time, unprecedented reform. Of course, beginning with the two major decisions he took early in office, the removal of the oil subsidy and the initiation of the exchange rate.
“But reforms don’t just stop there. These are the two major ones that are driving the other ones so that Nigeria can be a better place.
“But we have come here with a number of measures. First, we want to strengthen the communication that we have with the Ministry of Interior.
“We recognise the fact that we are doing so much here, trying to bring clarity to, especially, the processes of visa and other immigration issues.
“And of course, the reforms we are also doing in the nation’s correctional service and other sectors.
“So, we thought that we should come here and align our messaging so that we get to know better, learn more from you about what you are doing, so that Nigerians can know better,” the minister said.
According to him, “Our role is to help you amplify these reforms so that Nigerians can understand, especially now that we are doing this in this new digital age.
“We also want to know more about the public passport and visa reforms that you are doing.
“There is a need to align our messaging, especially around security, with the Ministry of Interior and other security agencies to ensure that Nigeria has a sound message.”
Responding, Tunji-Ojo said collaboration between the two ministries was necessary and extremely important for appropriate information dissemination.
According to him, the Ministry of Interior deals with citizenship matters and citizenship integrity, while the Ministry of Information deals with national orientation.
“So, it means that orientation has to go hand in hand with what we do. I say this at all times, that we might not yet be where we want to be, but we’re not where we were.
“We’ve made huge progress in the Ministry of Interior. Mr President has achieved a lot in this ministry.
“This ministry oversees, of course, the Nigerian Immigration Service, Federal Fire Service, Nigerian Security and Civil Defence Corps, Nigerian Correctional Service, and, of course, the National Identity Management Commission.
“And of course, the board that deals with promotion, recruitment, and discipline of paramilitary agencies. And I tell you, in each of these agencies, Mr President has achieved a lot.
“And for us, Renewed Hope has found a place of permanent domiciliation in the Ministry of Interior.”
The minister recalled that when President Tinubu came into office in 2023, the country had a passport backlog of 204,332, adding that it took the government only two and a half weeks to clear it.
“We did it in two and a half weeks and made sure that Nigerians will no longer go back to that era of passport scarcity.
“Also, in the area of passports, when this particular administration came, people had to wait in queues. But we liberalised and opened up the space.
“Imagine a child, a student in Canada, or a Nigerian in the U.S., who needs to renew passports to be able to stay. It becomes a problem.
“But Mr President has shown that he’s not just the President of Nigerians in Nigeria. He’s the President of Nigerians all over the world, wherever they might be. So, we’ve been able to stop that.
“And also, we looked back and analysed the situation, did a SWOT analysis, especially in the diaspora.
“I’ll give you an example. In a place like Canada, people fly six to eight hours to renew their passports.
“In the United States, a lot of students miss classes, some miss exams, and people miss work just because they need to renew their passports.
“What did this government do? We introduced what we call a contactless passport application system.”
Tunji-Ojo said this helped Nigerians in the diaspora renew their passports without going to the embassy.
“What you need is just your phone, and it is couriered straight to your house. And when you go online, you will see Nigerians applauding the government for that.
“This saves people money, time, and stress. Imagine the money for flights, hotels, and the cost for a family of four or five people travelling.
“So today, you don’t need to leave where you are. Just with your phone, you do everything. And the administration of President Bola Tinubu has shown that we care about Nigerians and their well-being.
“And I’ll tell you, since 2023, we’ve been able to issue more than 3.5 million passports. It is no longer a problem once you are in Nigeria. And again, the integrity of our passports has also been enhanced.
“So, we are not sacrificing the integrity of our passport on the altar of speed; we are balancing both,” he said.
NAN