The Minister of Interior, Bunmi Tunji-Ojo, on Tuesday, said 55,000 of the 200,000 passports backlog had been cleared.
He added that more would be cleared before the end of the two-week deadline given to the Immigration boss, adding that after the backlogs are cleared, Nigerians should be able to obtain their passports in two weeks.
He spoke when the Minister of Humanitarian Affairs and Poverty Alleviation, Dr Betta Edu, visited his office in Abuja.
This was contained in a statement by the Director of Press, Ministry of Interior, Afonja Ajibola.
Speaking, Edu promised widows of slain personnel of the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps, Immigration Service, Nigerian Correctional Service, and Federal Fire Service access to soft loans.
She also promised that inmates at the correctional centres would be empowered through skills acquisition programmes.