Another ultramodern passport application centre has been opened in Tamale, the Northern Regional capital, by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Regional Integration, a few days after a similar one was opened in the Central Region.

In an address at the opening ceremony on Wednesday, 25 November 2020, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs, Mr Muhammed Habiba Tijani, explained that the opening of the passport office formed part of the government’s efforts and policy of expanding the scope of passport operations in the country and bringing such vital public service to the doorstep of Ghanaians.

“Indeed, the facility we are commissioning today is the third premium PAC to be opened by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Regional Integration and in collaboration with private sector after the Accra and Kumasi premium centres,” he said.

The goal, he stated, was to ease the incessant pressure on various passport applications centres (PACs) across the entire country, noting that the Northern Region was chosen to provide this additional service to people who desire to process their passports in comfort and great convenience and are able to afford the service.

Mr Tijani noted further that: “The objective is to leverage the digital world order of technology to augment our obligation of issuance of passports to the good people of our dear country”.

“As part of the process to expand the digital space and to continue to innovate in a fast-changing and dynamic world as well as to address the challenges, the ministry has adopted and operationalised the government’s digitisation policy by automating the process of acquiring passports through the online passport application system.

“The online passport application system is an appointment-based system for the attainment of the three-pronged objectives of convenience, accessibility and reliability in the processing and acquisition of passports.”

“Residents of the Northern Region will now have the opportunity of availing themselves of additional passport service, which is premium. It is also envisaged that the establishment of this premium passport application centre in Tamale would create business opportunities in the supply chain where indigenes, residents and well-meaning Ghanaians can take advantage of and set up their own small businesses,” he added.