Governor Ademola Adeleke of Osun State has charged the Nigeria Immigration Service and the Osun State Command to get rid of all illegal immigrants in order to ensure maximum security in the state.

Governor Adeleke gave the charge on Tuesday at the commissioning of the Osun Immigration Passport Front Office in Ilesa.

Adeleke, who pointed out that the state is full of illegal immigrants who were operating illegal mining operations, added that their operations must be checked.

Thanking the Minister of Interior, Rauf Aregbesola, for bringing the Passport Front Office to Ilesa, the governor pointed out that it will ease the stress people go through during the process of getting a passport.

“You have made Osun proud as a Minister as you have brought many developmental projects to Osun, and I pray God help you more,” Adeleke lauded the Minister.

Earlier in his remarks, the Minister of Interior, Rauf Aregbesola, explained that a passport is one of the most important documents everybody should possess since it is a means of identification apart from traveling abroad.

Aregbesola also advanced that it is one of the citizenship mandates of Nigerians.

The former Osun Governor was enthused that the backlog of applications for passports had been cleared, adding that passports could now be processed within three weeks.

He explained that the commission has stepped up its operation, indicating that 1 million passports were produced in 2021, compared to 1.8 million the previous year.

He further disclosed that a lot of passport centers have been opened nationwide to ease the stress of collecting passports.

“The center is not an express center, which means all due process must be followed, and I warn people not to fall victim to fraudsters.

“This place is called a Passport Front Office, where data will be captured and sent to the Immigration Office for processing. The passport is of high quality, which can last longer and cannot be compromised or counterfeited.

“I urge applicants to make early applications and to avoid cutting corners. "Apply online only and do not pay anybody,” he advised.