The development was contained in a statement by the Public Relations Officer of the NIS, Deputy Comptroller, Tony Akuneme in Abuja.

Akuneme said the Comptroller-General, Malam Isa Jere, who gave the directive, also approved the deployment of the Passport Controller in Ekiti to Jigawa while the one in Ondo was moved to NIS Zonal office in Ibadan.

He said the Immigration boss noted that the Service would henceforth hold passport officers accountable for acts of indiscipline by personnel under their watch.

He explained that the Saturday operations was to enable the Service reduce the backlog of applications ocassioned by the 2020 and 2021 lockdown due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

“The C-G has directed that Passport offices across the country with high volume of pending applications to work on Saturdays.

“The period for this exercise is expected to be every Saturday commrencing from Dec. 3, 2022 to Jan. 28, 2023 between the period of 10 am to 2 pm.

“This is to enhance our service delivery to out esteemed clients.

“The Saturday preceeding the Christmas and New Year holidays are exempted,” the spokesman said.