Nigerian Passport Issued Abroad Rejected for Banking Identification

Posted by African Examiner Featured, Latest Headlines, News, Uncategorized Monday, February 11th, 2019

…As Nigerian Immigration Service Fails to Syncronise it for Validation

By Ayo Balogun

(AFRICAN EXAMINER) – For over three months, a customer of one of the commercial banks has not been able to reactivate his dormant account as the bank says it is unable to validate his Nigerian International Passport presented for identification.

The customer, name withed, narrated his ordeal to African examiner saying while he was in oversea for an extended trip his business account in Nigeria was said to have been dormant but contacted the bank to reactivate it.

The bank sent him forms to fill out and requested for his identification. The only identification that the customer could provide was the photo/data page of his international passport in which he used for the trip.

But the bank returned next day to tell him that his international passport is not valid or it could not be verified from the Nigeria Immigration Service data base.

Even two months later when the customer returned from the oversea trip the bank confirmed that the matter has been resolved.

According to the customer, the bank even went extra length of contacting the Nigeria Immigration Service which says the problem is that the passport in question was issued in Nigeria Embassy in Washington DC, and that the service has not been able to syncronise it their data base in Nigeria.

African Examiner report that as it is banks will not be able to validate the passport for identification purposes.

“This is a system failure as I will not be able to use my international passport issued at the Nigeria Embassy in Washington DC for banking transactions while in Nigeria. The bank told me my dormant account will not be reactivated unless I presented a driver’s license or other credentials accepted for identification in Nigeria. They even suggested that I should contact the immigration service or Nigeria embassy that issued the passport” the customer angrily stated.

All efforts to reach the Nigeria Immigration Service for comment on this story was not successful.