Amidst the hardship caused by inflation amongst other socio-economic challenges in the country, the Nigeria Immigration Service (NIS) has explained the reasons behind the upward review of fees for obtaining Nigerian passports.
The new fees according to the government agency will be effective from September 1, 2024. It was reported that the fee increase has continued to spark mixed reactions from social media users.
But explaining the reasons for the increment on Saturday, the Public Relations Unit of the NIS, in a post on the Service official X account, stated that the hike is driven by the need to enhance passport quality, address production costs, improve service delivery, and align with the government’s local content agenda.
In a post titled “4 major reasons for the unavoidable Increase in the price of the Nigerian Standard Passport”, the NIS listed the reasons as follows: Improvement in Passport standard and quality, ensuring that the Nigerian Passport continues to maintain the ICAO Standard. To address cost of materials and production in view of current realities.
With the new fees, the NIS will create more Passport front offices and biometrics centres, thereby increasing access to our facilities, decongesting the already existing centres and improving Passport production turnaround time. The recent increase in Passport fees would also help the Service actualise its drive for complete domestication of Nigeria Passport booklets.
The NIS, however, urged applicants to take advantage of the automated payment platform available on its official website for a seamless application process.
