Nigeria Embassy commence passport services in US after Internet snag

The United States of America’s passport manufacturing situation has been resolved by the Federal Government, and passport services have been restored at all three Missions.

A public notice published in the Nigerian Embassy in Washington, DC, states that all passport applicants who were previously booked for biometrics should visit the Mission on Monday.

The notice read, “This is to inform all passport applicants scheduled for biometric capture from Monday, November 13 to Thursday, November 16, that they have been rescheduled.

“It has been rescheduled to be held from Monday, November 20, to Wednesday, November 22 2023. The affected applicants can come to the Embassy on any of the days

“The change of schedule is due to the internet outage experienced at the Embassy, and we regret any inconveniences this might have caused.’’

Confirming this development, a source in the Embassy told the News Agency of Nigeria in New York on Sunday that the problem was resolved over the weekend.

He said, “The system is back over the weekend. The experts worked tirelessly to resolve it, and we are back.

“We fixed it yesterday (Saturday) and tested it. The system is back, and all the centres are fine, both in New York and Atlanta.

“The server in DC is connected to Atlanta and New York, so whatever happens to our server affects other Missions.’’

Speaking under anonymity, the source informed NAN that the issue was with the internet rather than the server and that whatever that happened to the internet also disconnected the other centers because the server is connected to the Embassy’s internet.

The source claims that the Nigerian specialists collaborated with the Embassy’s local ICT specialists, and together, they were able to resolve the issue.

According to NAN, Nigeria maintains three embassies in the US. These are the Nigerian Embassy in Washington, DC, and the Nigerian Consulates-General in New York and Atlanta.

The consulates obtain biometric information from their missions and use it to create passports, but the embassy in Washington, DC is the only facility that produces them in the United States.

In the past, the Federal Government was requested by the Organization for the Advancement of Nigerians and its twenty partner organizations in New York to supply passport manufacture equipment for its missions located in Atlanta and New York.

 “The New York consulate has jurisdiction over the highest number of states and accepts the largest number of applicants from across the United States.

“It boggles the mind to understand why two passport printing machines are located in Washington with none in New York or Atlanta,’’ the association pondered in a statement.

The twenty states of Connecticut, Delaware, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Maine, Massachusetts, Michigan, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Nebraska, Ohio, and North Dakota are included in the New York Jurisdiction.

The others are Wisconsin, Minnesota, Vermont, South Dakota, Rhode Island, and Pennsylvania.