Minister of Interior, Olubunmi Tunji-Ojo, has announced that more than 200,000 unprocessed passport application backlogs have been cleared since he assumed office at the Ministry of Interior.
He made this revelation while delivering a charge to the public and private sector at the Access Bank Guest Lecture Series (GLS) held in Lagos.
Tunji-Ojo outlined a sweeping vision for innovation-driven governance, ethical leadership, and urgent reform in the country’s correctional system.
“Leadership is not about reacting to problems, it is about foreseeing and solving them before they occur.
”And for that, you must always ask: What is your purpose? How will you execute it? And when is the right time to act?” he asked.
The Minister showcased the transformation underway at the Ministry since he took office, including the repayment of N28 billion in legacy debt without additional financial aid from the federal government
Tunji-Ojo highlighted several innovations, including the rollout of e-visa platforms, contactless passport renewals for Nigerians in the diaspora, advanced passenger information systems, and the commissioning of a Tier-4 data centre to support round-the-clock immigration services.
The Minister spoke passionately about the broken state of Nigeria’s correctional system, noting that more than 4,000 inmates were being held in custodial centres nationwide simply because they could not afford to pay fines as low as N50,000.
“This is not a legal crisis, it is a moral one. A society that punishes poverty more harshly than crime has lost its moral compass”, he declared.
Tunji-Ojo explained that the Ministry has partnered with private donors to secure the release of many non-violent offenders and is pursuing structural reforms that prioritise rehabilitation over punishment.
“A correctional facility must correct, not condemn. Justice without dignity is injustice in disguise”, he said.
Chairman of Access Holdings PLC, Aigboje Aig-Imoukhuede, praised Tunji-Ojo’s clarity of vision and decisive leadership, saying,
“What Dr. Tunji-Ojo has demonstrated is that innovation is not about big budgets, it is about big thinking.”
”Tunji-Ojo encouraged participants to embrace a personal philosophy of excellence and purpose.
“Let Access Bank not just be a financial institution, let it be a philosophy. Let Nigeria not just be a country of potential, let it be a nation of performance. I
‘:t is time to refine our genius, not just export it”, he said
