By The Comptroller-General, Nigeria Immigration Service, Muhammad Babandede, has said the 100 travellers under travel restrictions cannot bypass the NIS system to obtain new passports.
He explained that the system would automatically detect and raise the alarm if any of the violators applied for passport re-issuance.
The NIS boss made the clarification following concerns that the violators whose passports had been seized might attempt to obtain new passports and sneak out of the country.
The affected individuals had been placed under six-month travel ban by the Federal Government with effect from January 1.
According to The Punch, the CG explained how the NIS system operates.
“It is not possible for them to apply for new passports; we have passed that level in the Nigeria Immigration Service. The system will not re-issue the passport even if they lost their passports or say they want to change them; it would never work,” he said.
In a statement on Monday by the NIS Spokesman, Sunday James, the CG also directed the Nigeria Immigration Service to enforce the travel ban imposed on 100 travellers who allegedly flouted the mandatory seven-day post-arrival COVID-19 polymerase chain reaction test.
