By Emman Ovuakporie & Levinus Nwaguhiogu

ABUJA—A bill seeking to identify status of persons qualified to carry diplomatic passports in Nigeria passed second reading in the House of Representatives, yesterday, as members disclosed that the Comptroller Generals of both Fire Service and the Nigeria Security Civil Defence Corps, NSCDC, were expunged from the list.

This was sequel to the adoption of the report of the House committee on Interior on a bill to amend the Passport Act, 2004.

Mr  Umar Bature (PDP-Sokoto), the chairman of the committee on Interior, said the amendment was aimed at clearly defining persons eligible for the issuance of diplomatic and official passports.

However, the Nigeria Immigration Service, Nigeria Customs Service and Nigeria Prisons were included in the list of agencies and persons to be issued with diplomatic passports.