Nigeria’s Minister for Interior Olubunmi Tunji-Ojo has revealed the ministry has cleared over N28 billion debts, and a 200,000 unprinted passport backlog he inherited from his predecessors, while likening the ministry’s past operations to a system plagued by inefficiency, dependency and bureaucracy.
He also revealed that before his appointment, over 4,000 inmates were held in the various correctional facilities across the country for their inability to pay fines as less as N50,000, or N100,000, till he intervened.
He made these remarks while speaking at the Access Bank Guest Lecture Series (GLS) event, recently held at Access Tower, Victoria Island, Lagos.
According to him, “When we go to the Ministry of Interior, the first question I ask is: what is the statutory role of the Ministry of Interior? And I’ll tell you the most important role we have, apart from border governance, is citizenship integrity.
“It’s the responsibility of the ministry. No foreigner comes into Nigeria. You can’t work in Nigeria without our approval, and data management. When you get to the ministry for passports, people need to wait for months.
“We inherited a debt profile on passports of about N28 billion. There was no way, no money, but I promised myself I was not going to ask for intervention, but rather, we’ll go for innovation. We saw a ministry where, of course, all modules were working in silos, and we needed to align all the modules.
“When we came onboard, we inherited over 200,000 passports, unprocessed, unprinted, because there was a debt of N28 billion. And in less than three weeks, we cleared it.
“It was a system plagued by inefficiency, dependency, and bureaucracy. But rather than seeking budgetary interventions, we sought innovation.
“We implemented, E-Visa Solutions for short-term visitors, cutting processing times to less than 48 hours; Contactless Passport Renewals in the diaspora, enabling Nigerians abroad to renew passports on their smartphones without visiting embassies; A world-class Tier 4 Data Centre powered by solar energy and three-tiered redundancy systems, ensuring 24/7 uptime for immigration systems globally; Integration of our E-Gates with Interpol and other global databases to enhance border security; Advanced Passenger Information (API) systems to vet travelers even before they board flights to Nigeria.
“We did all these without a single kobo from the government. Innovation paid for innovation. And that is my message to you: ideas are the true capital of a nation, not money. Never see funding as your biggest barrier. Your greatest asset is your creativity, your integrity, and your capacity to execute.”
On prison reforms, he said: “One of the most neglected but a critical area under the Ministry of Interior is our correctional system, what we commonly refer to as the prison service. When we assumed office, we were confronted with a system that dehumanised inmates, burdened the public purse, and failed to rehabilitate.
“Over 4,000 inmates were being held for their inability to pay fines as little as N50,000 or N100,000. Some had been in custody for years for minor, nonviolent offences. This wasn’t just a legal issue, it was a moral crisis. How can a nation claim justice when its system punishes poverty more than crime?
“We intervened. Working with private partners and philanthropic individuals, we secured the release of thousands of these inmates. But we didn’t stop there. We have since begun building a sustainable model for correctional reform.
“We are focusing on rehabilitative programming, including skills acquisition and psychological support; Digital tracking of inmates and cases, ensuring no one is lost in the system; Creating a framework for private sector participation in correctional centre reforms through Public-Private Partnerships (PPP), and above all, redefining the correctional experience to reflect dignity, justice, and rehabilitation, not punishment for poverty.
“Let it be known, a correctional facility should correct, not condemn. And a government that fails to restore dignity to its most vulnerable, even those who have erred, fails the test of leadership.”
Sunday Ehigiator
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