How BTO’s Strides Markets Renewed Hope Agenda
There was a time when obtaining a Nigerian passport was a national nightmare:months of waiting, endless backlogs, touting and tears at Immigration offices. But under the leadership of the Minister of Interior, Hon. (Dr.) Olubunmi Tunji-Ojo, that story has changed dramatically. Within weeks of assuming office, he cleared the backlog of over 204,000 passport applications that had held Nigerians hostage for years, introduced contactless biometric passport renewal for Nigerians in the diaspora, established a centralised passport personalisation centre in Abuja, and deployed e gates at major airports in Lagos, Abuja, Port Harcourt, Enugu and Kano. Today, a passport that once took six months now takes three weeks, and the dignity of the Nigerian traveller has been restored. This no doubt is a clear testimony that President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s Renewed Hope Agenda is not a slogan, but a working reality.
Beyond the passport revolution, BTO has also rewritten the story of Nigeria’s correctional system from punishment to rehabilitation and humanity. Through his compassionate intervention, over 4,068 inmates languishing in custodial centres over inability to pay minor fines were freed after the mobilisation of N585 million in fines and compensations, leading to massive decongestion of facilities across the country. At the same time, he embarked on the rehabilitation and upgrade of correctional centres, improved officers’ welfare, promoted thousands of personnel across the Immigration, Correctional, Fire and Civil Defence services, and restored discipline and pride to the paramilitary. For the first time in many years, the Correctional Service is no longer seen as a warehouse of hopelessness, but as a centre of reformation; exactly what Renewed Hope promised Nigerians.
And in the area of internal security and national economy, the Minister has proved that reform can also mean revenue and protection. With the creation of the NSCDC Mining Marshals, illegal mining has been confronted head-on, pushing mining revenue from a paltry N6 billion to over N48 billion, while critical national assets are now better protected. The digitisation of CERPAC, the deployment of Advanced Passenger Information and Passenger Name Record systems, and the integration of real-time border surveillance have tightened Nigeria’s borders and strengthened the nation’s security architecture. These are not just achievements of one man, they are the visible footprints of a President who chose competence over sentiment and through BTO,a working Minister whose resourcefulness and youthfulness stand in a good stead, the Renewed Hope Agenda is marketing itself, one reform at a time.
