The FPO assured the general public of its administrative mechanism, solely engineered by the CGIS, and readily implemented in NIS formations with Festac office as a specimen.
One of the important transformation agendas, according to the FPO, was the introduction of enhanced e-passport, which was issued first to President Muhammadu Buhari, on January 15, 2019, with 10-year validity period, signalling the official take-off of the signature project for the Babandede-led NIS management.
Speaking at an award ceremony conferred on The Guardian Newspapers for its corporate social responsibility in Lagos, Passport Controller Officer, FPO, Lagos State, Adeola Adesokan, said the Comptroller-General of NIS, Muhammad Babandede, had held the service’s mission statement in high esteem by introducing various transformation agenda that has re-built the Service.
Adesokan, who is also a Deputy Comptroller of Immigration, said ever since then, the NIS has rolled out about 200,000 enhanced e-passports in various passport-issuing centres including that of the Festac Passport Office, which took off on the 22nd of December, 2020.
One of the CGIS transformation agendas is hostmanship, which is the art of making people feel welcome – encompassing areas such as customer care, quality service and hospitality.
The PCO said the Festac office has always ensured officers and men of the passport office are well tutored and aware of the need to welcome and treat guests rightly. This is evident in the weekly orientation for staff in the formation and has greatly fine-tuned the approach used by officers in attending to guests.
She mentioned that the Festac Passport Office has undergone a complete overhaul of infrastructure, that is, renovation and rebuilding of needed structures were constructed to meet up with the demands of guests. This is in line with what the CGIS is doing at the service headquarters and zonal offices, to make sure that the Service operates in conducive working environment.
In his remarks, the Executive Director of The Guardian, Toke Alex-Ibru, said the FPO has witnessed a dramatic change compared to what it was the last time he visited.
