I Don’t Want To Be Remembered For Easing Int’l Passport Issuance Processes – Bunmi Tunji-Ojo
Nigeria’s Minister of Interior, Olubunmi Tunji-Ojo, has said he would not want to be remembered for easing the international passport issuance processes but for securing the nation’s borders against external aggressors and movements of arms.
Mr Tunji-Ojo said this at the weekend when he was hosted by his friends and old schoolmates at Obafemi Awolowo University (OAU), Ile-Ife, where the minister spent a session before travelling to the United Kingdom for studies.
“I don’t want to be remembered for addressing the bottlenecks with the issuance of international passports when I leave office. That is not the core mandate of my office. There are so much more.
But I want to be remembered for securing Nigerian borders and enhancing internal security,” he said.
International passport as a right
The minister said he regretted that the issuance of international passport passports for qualified Nigerians had for long been seen as a privilege, noting that it is a right for deserving every Nigerian who can afford it.
He, however, said the core mandates of his ministry include the protection of Nigerians through border security, managing the people’s identity, making the custodial centres livable, and ensuring that fire incidences and other emergencies are addressed promptly and professionally.
He said efforts are being made to provide the required tools and gadgets at various border posts and airports to monitor real-time the activities of the movement of people and goods “as it is done in advanced countries of the world.”
“With adequate technology, we can achieve much and we will do just that to maintain sanity and identify every individual visiting our country and those going out of the country. That is the vision of President Bola Tinubu, and this is what we will achieve,” he added.
He pleaded with Nigerians to be patient with Mr Tinubu-led administration, saying all “Ts” are currently being crossed and “Is” being dotted, insisting that the country is on its part to reclaim the lost glory.
The minister, who expressed happiness to be reunited with his old friends and associates, noted that his love for Obafemi Awolowo University almost discouraged him from accepting his foreign university admission when he had only spent about a session on the campus.
He told the gathering, which was graced by top officials of various agencies under his watch, that the friends who had gathered were not his friends as ministers but “friends of Bunmi Tunji-Ojo.”
He said; “From the days of K Block in Angola Hall to Awo Annex and our apartment in town where I lived with Abiodun Omole in the Akarabata area, the memories of Ife cannot be easily wished away.
“I remember the politics of the campus- the rivalry between the Democratic Socialist Movement (DSM) and the Pacesetters Movement, and the guidance from my people like the then deputy speaker of the students’ representative council- Bro Felix Ogunmade, among others.”
The minister heaped praises on Remi Yemi-Omole- wife of Abiodun Yemi-Omole, his roommate in the Akarabata area while in OAU, saying the woman who was his friend’s girlfriend at the time, made schooling easier for him by taking care of the home.
The minister said he believes nothing is too much to do for his friends, saying as much as he doesn’t like to be in Lagos always, he honoured one of the organisers, Mojeed Alabi, to visit Lagos twice a week.
Mr Tunji-Ojo had earlier on Monday visited the University of Lagos (UNILAG), Akoka, where he was a guest at the opening ceremony of the institution’s third International Week conference.
