Thread by @wFalabede

"Scarcity of passport booklets is responsible for the corruption within the passport offices. - Comptroller-General of the @nigimmigration"
Muhammed Babandede, Aug 2019

Me - How can we solve the scarcity problem and reduce corruption?

Thread!👇👇👇👇

Some of the issues identified as the reason for the scarcity of Nigeria passport booklet by the Comptroller-General of immigration include
1. Manufacturing of the passport outside of Nigeria
2. Timing of passport application by Nigerians

It is true that manufacturing the passport booklet at home is in our national interest in terms of jobs and security. The question is without changing the mindset of our immigration officials and the attitude of Nigerians, will local manufacturing end the scarcity?

Passport booklet scarcity problem will need a holistic approach to be solved. The scarcity is producing millionaires who earn more from bribery than they earn as salary. This is what we must deal with.

We must provide enough passports as we work on reducing corruption.

Operational issues that are directly responsible for the scarcity need to be fixed. One important factor is the use of data to estimate the demand for passports in Nigeria. If we don't know the quantity needed, it is all just guesswork.

But why the scarcity?

The immigration explained that it takes a longer time for the passports to be delivered from the foreign manufacturer hence the scarcity. What this revealed is that we tend to wait for inventory to be too low before placing orders for replenishment.

Low inventory is a sign that there is a disconnect between the organization's knowledge of the demand and supply for passports. Otherwise, there would have been a plan in place to rectify any inventory issue.

An efficient plan will include the analysis of demand and supply of passport booklets. Once we understand the nature of the demand, it becomes much easier to create a good plan for the supply.

Longer lead time means that we need to improve our demand estimations. Based on the lead time, stock enough for a little longer based. For example, if the lead time of our passport booklet is 30 days. Stock enough to meet the demand for up to 60 days.

Order when inventory falls below a predetermined threshold. For example, order more passports when inventory falls below the requirement for 36 days supply.

To make this work, an inventory management system will be needed.

Inventory management system - when the inventory of passport booklets falls below the predetermined threshold, the system will automatically notify the supplier who will then prepare a supply and obtain the necessary approval electronically.

Inventory management software can easily be sourced within the Nigeria software developers community to help automate inventory decisions.

Patronizing this group is in line with the federal government policy to develop the sector but most importantly, it solves Nigeria's problem

Advantage of this is that no passport office will ever run out of passport since every one of the offices will be connected to the inventory control system.

Although the passport inventory system is not as difficult as it sounds, It will be naive to think that fixing inventory management will automatically lead to a hitch-free passport application process. Human or the Naija factor should be anticipated and planned for.

Transparency
Once scarcity of passport booklet is resolved. An accountability and transparency process needs to be put in place. The inventory data of passport booklet by location should be publicly accessible

The data should include the quantity and type of passport booklet in all the offices or allocated to the offices against the total number of pending and estimated applications for the period. Just like we have the NNPC publishing revenue and sales data on its website

Some individuals may still attempt to frustrate unsuspecting applicants in order to eke out as much bribe as possible. At this point, checks and balances will need to be put in place but I won’t be addressing those in this tweet. Let’s focus on using the stick and carrot.

First, the stick. Since we expected scarcity to have been resolved once a new inventory system is in place, a work process will be put in place that guarantees the capability of each office to meet the demand for the passport booklets demand in each office.

A review of each task undertaken in the processing and issuance of a passport will be conducted. The best approach of each task will be recommended. The time taken to process each task will be computed so as to assign expected performance per task.

This will form the basis of employee performance review that will be used as part of the evaluation for advancement at work. Those found wanting will be punished accordingly. All fraud and bribery will be reported to the EFCC for further investigation.

Here come the carrots. Each office receives a portion of the processing fees (e.g 10%) for every completed application. The effort must result in the issuance of the intended document ie passport in this case within the deadline for the service requested.

The office will use the fund as a reward for employees. The amount received by each employee or department will be based on their effort. For example, a lazy employee or unproductive department might not even receive a kobo.

To encourage competition between passport offices, an office whose performance is above the national required average will receive a monetary award and recognition. For example, those completing 95% of applications on time are better than 80% if the average is 90%

Offices achieving results above the national required average will also keep a higher portion of their processing fee (eg 13%) the following year compared to those whose productivity is below the national average. Below average will keep a lot less proportion (5%)

This is by all means not an exhaustive list but I hope it is a good start. There are many other ways to fix the problem of the scarcity of passport booklets and the corruption that is associated with it. We just need things to work. What is your opinion and how can we improve?