OLUBUNMI TUNJI-OJO: Beyond passport reforms

By Olufemi Salako When President Bola Ahmed Tinubu promised Nigerians a Renewed Hope Agenda, the skepticism among Nigerians was so strong because of many unfulfilled campaign promises, and were dismissive of it as another hope raised to soon be dashed. While some school of thoughts were of the opinion that the new administration should be given a benefit of the doubt, both skeptics and optimists agreed it will take a while for the vision and promises to become a reality and definitely not in four years, or first term of the Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s presidency. At the mention of Dr Olubunmi Tunji-Ojo, the Honourable Minister of Interior, what comes to mind of many Nigerians is the repositioned, reformed, and reorganized Nigeria Immigration Service and passport services.

Nigerians now get value for money as obtaining a new passport or renewing it is now seamless, hitch free, without being fleeced by immigration officials or extorted because of a passport racketeering. I’m here to tell you there is more to him beyond easement of various passport services by NIS, there are bold reforms across all the services under his administrative control. The reforms are so defining and far reaching that the impact is evident in just three years in office as Minister and also as one of the brightest light of the Renewed Hope Agenda of the present administration.

Digital transformation He started out with the drive of digital transformation of public service delivery by replacing manual processes with technology-driven systems, which is a clear demonstration of him bringing his professional background and training to bear. Most of the reforms embarked upon by him are hinged on technological innovation or introduction. It is in furtherance of this that he mandated the strict institutional digitization and enterprise content management systems (Interas) across the ministry to enforce transparency and curb bureaucratic inefficiency.

This further promoted institutional discipline as the hallmark of that policy is electronic correspondence across departments and agencies of the ministry of Interior. There is no way we will talk about the many reforms embarked upon by Tunji-Ojo, especially the technologically driven reforms without a quick mention of how such digitization move resolved the NIN (National Identification Number) modification backlog. This move tackled and resolved an inhe…