Following the consideration and adoption of the report of the House
Committee on Interior on a Bill for an Act to Amend the Passport
(Miscellaneous Provisions) Act, Cap P1 Laws of the Federation of Nigeria
2004, former Presidents of the Senate, Senators Ken Nnamani and
Adolphus Wabara, as well as all erstwhile presiding officers of the
National Assembly will lose their rights to hold diplomatic passports
and be accorded the privileges equivalent to the status of diplomats
when they travel outside Nigeria.
Similarly, the heads of two paramilitary institutions, the Nigeria
Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) and Nigeria Fire Service, have
been removed from the list of Nigerians eligible to be issued diplomatic
passports.
The bill was designed to clearly define persons eligible for the issuance of diplomatic and official passports in Nigeria.
Giving a summary of the recommendations before they were adopted by
the committee of the whole, Chairman, House Committee on Interior, Hon.
Umar Bature said the amendment was aimed at streamlining the eligibility
of persons allowed to carry diplomatic passports and avoid its abuse.
According to the adopted report, notwithstanding the provisions of
any law in force, persons holding the following offices shall be
eligible for the issuance of a diplomatic passport for the purpose of
conducting their official duties: President, Commander in Chief and
spouse; Vice President and spouse; Senate President; Speaker of the
House of Representatives; Chief Justice of the Federation; Deputy Senate
President; Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives; State
Governors; and State Deputy Governors.
Others listed as eligible include former heads of state, members of
the National Assembly, justices of the Supreme Court, presidents of the
Court of Appeal, federal ministers, Secretary to the Government of the
Federation, Head of Service to the Government of the Federation, and
Clerk of the National Assembly.
The list also included the Service Chiefs, Inspector General of
Police, Heads of Paramilitary Institutions (Customs, Immigration and
Prisons), Heads of Mission and Foreign Service Officers accredited to
Nigerian missions abroad and their spouses, defence attaches and their
deputies in all Nigerian Missions abroad, Immigration, Information and
Customs Attaches in Nigerian missions abroad, as well as heads of
security/intelligence agencies in Nigeria, namely, State Security
Services (SSS), Defence Intelligence Agency (DIA) and National
Intelligence Agency (NIA).
The report also stated that diplomatic passports may also be issued
to any other person for whom the President of the Federal Republic of
Nigeria approves using his prerogative.
It also stipulates that official passports shall be issued to such
category of public officers by the Minister of Interior solely for the
purpose of diplomatic assignments.
Chairman, House Committee on Foreign Affairs, Hon. Nnena Elendu-
Ukeje, who backed the amendment, warned that opening the diplomatic
passport eligibility to too many people will make Nigeria lose its
integrity before the international community.
“We must be careful because holding a diplomatic passport means you
can do some things without consequences in a foreign land. Things like
double parking and exemption from certain taxes.
“We must not reduce the potency of our diplomatic passports. The
abuse has become so much that you are no longer respected as a Nigerian
when you carry a diplomatic passport.
If it’s so unwieldy, we will not
be able to activate some agreements we have signed with other
countries,” she said.
She noted that most of the people on the diplomatic passport list could make do with official passports.
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