Embassy faults NIDOE’s claim of 1.5m Nigerians in need of passports

Nigerian Embassy in Rome, Italy, has faulted the alleged claim that about 1.5 million Nigerians in Italy needed passports.

Chairman, Nigerians in Diaspora Organisation Europe (NIDOE), Italy chapter, George Omo-Iduhon, had, on Saturday, said more than 1.5 million of the three million registered Nigerians in Italy urgently needed the Nigerian passport.

“One of the problems we are facing as Nigerians living in Italy is acute shortage of Nigerian passports. Most times, we go to the embassy to address the problem. What we normally get as a response is the shortage of booklets and backlogs,” he had claimed.

But the embassy, in a statement, said it was not unaware of information circulating on the social media, in which a particular association of Nigerians in Italy, provided divergent information on the statistics of undocumented and documented Nigerians residing in the country among other issues.

“The Embassy remains the only body in the country that will be able to provide relevant figures on such issues through traditional diplomatic communications with the relevant host government authorities. Nigerian organisations are hereby advised to always cross-check with the Mission on such matters in the future, before making such statements,” the embassy said in the statement.

It noted that the figure of Nigerians resident in the country bandied in the publication as three million was a far cry from the official 113,049 figure by the Italian statistics agency (ISTAT).

“It is imperative to inform you that the Federal Government is already responding to Missions’ appeal for the supply of a higher number of passport booklets. In December 2021, a sizeable consignment of passport booklets was made available to the embassy.

“It advises Nigerians to use only legally recognised routes on international travel if they intend to visit Italy. Also, Nigerians visiting Italy for whatever reason are advised to register their presence with the embassy and obtain their consular identification cards,” it said in the statement.