By Jacob Onuha Nelson
Directorate of Civil Registry, Nationality, Passport, and Immigration (DCRNPI) has warned commissioned and non-commissioned officers of malpractices.
Director General of the Directorate of Civil Registry, Nationality, Passport, and Immigration, Maj. Gen. Elia Kosta Faustino sounded the warning in a statement, on Thursday.
According to Maj. Gen. Kosta, some immigration officers had abandoned their sworn duties and engaged in unimaginable malpractices with citizens.
He added that the officials have taken upon themselves to process passports and nationality cards on behalf of citizens in order to reserve some amount for personal use.
Maj. Gen. Kosta ordered the officials to cease such practices.
“From today henceforth. No officer or NCO is allowed to process any documents, whether passport or nationality, on behalf of the citizen,” the order read in part.
Maj. Gen. Kosta encouraged citizens to process the required documents personally without men and women in uniform.
“This is for the interest of the citizens and of the directorate in order to avoid fraudulence and disappointment from middlemen,” it read.
Kosta directed the three Programme Support Units (3 PSU) and the Protection Unit of the DCRNPI to enforce this order with immediate effect.
Gen. Kosta urged all the departments to pass these messages to the public with immediate implementation.
“All departments and units are to communicate this order to their officers and other ranks for immediate implementation,” he urged.
It has been the first time for the ministry to notice the malpractices and call out the officers to stop.
However, Executive Director for the Centre for Peace and Advocacy (CPA), Ter Manyang, appreciated the decision and called on those involved to be punished.
He urged the leadership of the directorate to enforce the law.
Manyang expressed that several people have been scammed by men in uniform in the name of quick processing of documents.
He revealed that, besides that, the officials have been engaged in deals that are against their role of guiding people and detecting malpractices.
The activist proposed the need for every state to have access to and print the necessary document to ease congestion and malpractices at headquarters.
He reaffirmed that it has been a call from the civil society to ensure that citizens are freed from long-term suffering in the hands of malpractices.
The activist urged the director to eliminate cases of discrimination where some citizens are denied documents due to their skin colours.