Nigeria Embassy commence passport services in US after Internet snag

The Federal Government has handled the passport manufacturing crisis in the United States of America, and passport services have been resumed at all three missions.

According to a public notification made by the Nigerian Embassy in Washington, DC, all passport applicants who have previously scheduled 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.

Advertisement

“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 event, a source in the Nigerian Embassy in New York told the News Agency of Nigeria on Sunday that the problem had been handled 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.’’

The source, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, told NAN that the problem was with the internet rather than the server, and that whatever occurred to the internet also disconnected the other centers because the server is connected to the Embassy’s internet.

According to the source, the Nigerian specialists coordinated with the Embassy’s local ICT specialists to remedy the issue.

According to NAN, Nigeria has three embassies in the United States. Nigeria has an embassy in Washington, DC, as well as consulates general in New York and Atlanta.

The consulates acquire biometric information from their missions and utilize it to manufacture passports, but the only institution in the United States that makes them is the embassy in Washington, DC.

Previously, the Organization for the Advancement of Nigerians and its twenty partner groups in New York asked the Federal Government to donate passport manufacturing machinery for its missions 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 New York Jurisdiction includes the twenty states of Connecticut, Delaware, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Maine, Massachusetts, Michigan, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Nebraska, Ohio, and North Dakota.

Wisconsin, Minnesota, Vermont, South Dakota, Rhode Island, and Pennsylvania are the other states.

Do you find Xclusivepop useful? Click here to give us five stars rating!