Olubunmi Tunji-Ojo And The Interior Ministry: A Tinubu Success Story…. By Modupe Adedayo
There is a compelling argument to be made that the performance of a government should not be judged only by its grand policy declarations, but by the quality of everyday encounters between citizens and the state. In Nigeria, few areas illustrate this more clearly than passport acquisition, border management, correctional services, emergency response and the treatment of frontline public servants. It is against this background that the transformation taking place under the Federal Ministry of Interior, led by Minister Olubunmi Tunji-Ojo, deserves closer examination as one of the more visible case studies of the Tinubu administration’s reform agenda.
The Ministry of Interior supervises four major paramilitary institutions, the Nigeria Immigration Service (NIS), Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC), Nigerian Correctional Service (NCoS) and Federal Fire Service (FFS). Under Tunji-Ojo, the ministry has pursued reforms that have affected both institutional capacity and citizens’ direct experience of government. The Federal Ministry of Information reported in March 2026 that the ministry of Interior, had cleared a backlog of more than 204,000 passport applications within two and a half weeks, introduced contactless passport renewal for Nigerians in the diaspora, established Nigeria’s first centralised passport personalisation centre in Abuja, deployed Advanced Passenger Information and Passenger Name Record systems, introduced electronic immigration gates at major airports and expanded the national identity database to more than 130 million people.
The passport reforms are particularly significant because they touch a constituency that has historically been one of the most vocal critics of Nigerian public administration: Nigerians living abroad. The Nigeria Immigration Service now advertises online passport applications and contactless procedures, while its current service platform provides for applications from outside Nigeria and promotes contactless passport renewal. For a Nigerian in London, Toronto, Washington, Johannesburg or elsewhere, the ability to begin or complete a passport process without repeated physical visits represents more than technological convenience. It changes the individual’s perception of the Nigerian state from one characterised by bureaucracy and frustration to one increasingly capable of delivering a modern public service.
That transformation should, however, be described accurately. It would be difficult to establish empirically that all or most Nigerians in the diaspora now have an unprecedented level of trust in the Tinubu administration without a representative opinion survey. What can reasonably be established is that reforms such as contactless passport renewal have created highly visible points of positive interaction between the government and Nigerians abroad. Reports of diaspora appreciation for the new passport system, alongside the government’s own documentation of the reforms, suggest that the Ministry of Interior has become an important channel through which some Nigerians abroad are experiencing the practical side of the administration’s Renewed Hope agenda.
The reforms go well beyond passports. In December 2023, the Civil Defence, Correctional, Fire and Immigration Services Board approved the promotion of 32,361 personnel across the four services supervised by the ministry: 21,385 NSCDC personnel, 4,598 immigration officers, 4,498 correctional officers and 1,680 Federal Fire Service personnel. The Federal Ministry of Information described the exercise as an improvement over previous years, while contemporary reports noted that the scale of the promotion exercise was unprecedented within the board’s recent history.
This focus on personnel welfare is strategically important. A reform agenda cannot succeed when the men and women expected to implement it remain demoralised by career stagnation. By addressing promotions and career progression, the ministry has attempted to connect institutional reform with the motivation of its workforce. That is a less visible achievement than a new airport facility or digital platform, but arguably one of the most important because it affects the human beings responsible for delivering government services.
The Nigerian Correctional Service provides another example. Under the ministry’s decongestion initiative, more than ₦600 million was mobilised from corporate organisations to settle the fines of more than 4,000 inmates who were being held because they could not pay relatively small fines. Contemporary reporting also documented collaboration with the Ministry of Justice on speedy trials and the renovation of correctional facilities, including Kuje. The policy demonstrates a broader understanding of internal security: incarceration should not simply be about keeping people behind bars, but about justice, rehabilitation, human dignity and reducing unnecessary pressure on correctional facilities.
At the NSCDC, the creation of the Mining Marshal has expanded the agency’s role in protecting mining assets and combating illegal mining in collaboration with other government institutions. The Corps has also received greater operational attention, including vehicles for surveillance and efforts connected with the Safe Schools Initiative.
Meanwhile, the Federal Fire Service has reported improvements in operational capacity, including rapid-response vehicles, firefighting trucks and the remodelling of the National Fire Academy at Sheda. Earlier ministry performance reports put the service’s emergency response target at below 15 minutes nationwide.
Technology has become perhaps the defining thread running through these reforms. The ministry of interior, under Olubunmi Tunji-Ojo has developed a command-and-control architecture for immigration, expanded digital visa processing, introduced e-gates and strengthened identity management. The NIS also operates online passport and visa services, while its current platform advertises emergency travel certificates and other digital services. These reforms matter because technology, when properly deployed, can reduce human interference, shorten queues, improve transparency and make government services less vulnerable to the informal practices that have historically damaged public confidence.
It is therefore understandable that the Interior Ministry has become one of the most visible examples used by supporters of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to demonstrate that the administration’s reform agenda can translate into measurable institutional changes. But there is another dimension to Tunji-Ojo’s role that cannot be ignored: his political mobilisation outside the formal responsibilities of the Interior Ministry.
Tunji-Ojo has openly participated in efforts to build support for President Tinubu ahead of the 2027 election. In August 2025, he called for greater synergy among government, the APC and support groups to secure what he described as an overwhelming victory for Tinubu in 2027. He also acknowledged the importance of grassroots engagement and alternative support platforms for Nigerians who may wish to support the President outside formal party structures.
That political activity has intensified in Ondo State. Reports in 2026 indicate that political organisations associated with Olubunmi Tunji-Ojo have established structures across the state’s local governments and wards, with programmes targeted at women, workers, youths and other constituencies.
The significance of this political engagement lies less in the slogans being deployed than in the argument being constructed around performance. The message from Tunji-Ojo’s political network is essentially that supporters should campaign on what the administration has actually done. In Ondo, this has increasingly connected the Minister’s record at Interior with broader arguments about the Tinubu administration. Labour leaders in the state, for example, recently endorsed Tinubu for 2027 and praised Olubunmi Tunji-Ojo’s reforms, particularly the improvements in passport services.
There is, however, an important distinction between government performance and political campaigning. The achievements of the Ministry of Interior are public-policy outcomes that can be independently examined. The mobilisation of voters for 2027 is political activity. The credibility of the former is ultimately what gives the latter its persuasive foundation. If Nigerians believe that government services are becoming more efficient, that public servants are being rewarded for performance, that correctional institutions are being reformed and that immigration services are becoming more responsive, those experiences can influence political attitudes. But they should not be presented as proof that every Nigerian has embraced the government or that electoral victory is guaranteed.
This distinction becomes even more important when considering the diaspora. Nigerians abroad have traditionally had a complicated relationship with the Nigerian state. They frequently complain about consular bureaucracy, passport delays and difficulties accessing government services. A system that allows a Nigerian living thousands of kilometres away to renew a passport without the traditional cycle of repeated physical visits directly addresses one of those grievances. It is therefore reasonable to see immigration reform as a potential trust-building mechanism, even if the claim of an unprecedented nationwide increase in diaspora trust requires stronger empirical evidence.
Ultimately, the strongest argument for the Tinubu administration may not be found in political rallies but in such everyday encounters with government. A passport obtained without the traditional frustration; an officer promoted after years of waiting; an inmate released because a petty fine has been paid; a school protected against security threats; a fire service equipped to respond faster; a border monitored with modern technology, these are tangible manifestations of governance.
And that is where Olubunmi Tunji-Ojo’s record becomes politically significant. His performance at Interior provides the Tinubu administration with a practical demonstration of what reform can look like when political authority is combined with administrative urgency, technology, institutional restructuring and measurable targets. The challenge now is to sustain the reforms, subject them to independent scrutiny, address whatever gaps remain and replicate the same culture of measurable service delivery across other ministries.
If the Renewed Hope agenda is ultimately to translate into durable public confidence, it cannot depend solely on speeches or political mobilisation. It must continue to produce results that Nigerians can see, touch and experience. The Ministry of Interior, under Tunji-Ojo, offers one of the clearest examples of that proposition so far, and it explains why the ministry’s record has become both an administrative success story and an increasingly important part of the political conversation ahead of 2027.
BTO, as fondly called, is a clear Testimony for the Renewed Hope Agenda. With this efforts, it is most certain, that President Bola Tinubu will Succeed.
Princess Modupe Adedayo is the President of Psychology Students Association, and General Secretary, Faculty of Social Science Students, Lagos State University LASU, Ojo Lagos.
