Lagos residents Folake Oke and her partner have been issued new passports by the Nigerian Immigration Service (NIS) in Akowonjo, Egbeda, Lagos, only four days following FIJ’s publication on the matter.
Oke told FIJ on Friday that the NIS prioritised their passport processing after learning about their struggles with Festus Ikhake Nasamu Philip, a senior immigration officer who had taken their money for seven months.
She explained that Dapo Aina, the public relations officer of the NIS in Egbeda, had called to assure her their documents would be processed.
READ MORE: NIS’ Festus Philip Took Lagos Couple’s N230,000. No Passports, Half Refund 7 Months Later
“I have collected my passport. Thank you so much. I am very grateful,” she told FIJ.
“I collected it just four days after capturing. They treated it as a priority, ever since we first paid in July.”
She stated that she and her partner had to pay new application fees.
FIJ earlier reported on February 10, how Philip took N230,000 from the couple in July. He told them that the documents would be ready in two weeks but he ended up ignoring the couple’s calls while also failing to deliver.
“I paid N230,000 to Philip at the NIS office in Akowonjo. He assured us the passports would be ready in two weeks,” Oke told FIJ.
“The timing was crucial because our sponsor asked us to renew them before they expired.”
READ MORE: After FIJ’s Story, NIS’ Festus Philip Refunds Lagos Couple’s N130,000
After much pestering, the NIS officer managed to refund N100,000 out of the money in December but kept making excuses on the remaining N130,000.
Less than 24 hours after FIJ published the story, Philip made the remaining refund. This was after seven months of taking N230,000 from the couple to renew their passports.
They also collected their documents after 11 days of reporting their complaints to FIJ.
The post Lagos Couple Paid N230,000 But Never Got Passports for 7 Months. NIS Gave Them 4 Days After FIJ’s Story appeared first on Foundation For Investigative Journalism.