Chinedu Eze

Despite the increase in the cost of Nigerian passports, officials of the Nigeria Immigration Service (NIS) said that applicants will still pay more for passports beyond the official prices because majority of Nigerians prefer to be assisted to following the process to access the Immigration portal and obtain the passport themselves as established by government.

The immigration officers also said some of their colleagues will take advantage of the loopholes like glitches in the system to assist the applicants and charge ‘processing fees’ from them.

It was learnt that at states outside Lagos and Abuja, it is practically difficult to obtain passports without passing through “middle men” (touts) sometimes arranged by the Immigration officials despite the centralisation of the process.

The officers both serving and retired who spoke to THISDAY on condition of anonymity, condemned the new prices of the passports, saying that Nigerians will pay more and still spend more money to obtain the document because immigration officials will introduce glitches in the process to force applicants to interface with them.

Last week, the Nigeria Immigration Service announced upward review of passport application fees.

The cost of obtaining a 32-page passport with a 5-year validity was raised from N50,000 to N100,000 while a 64-page passport with a 10-year validity will now cost N200,000, up from the previous N100,000.

Reacting to the new prices, Minister of Interior, Dr. Olubunmi Tunji-Ojo, assured Nigerians that the federal government is working on delivering passport to applicants one week after their enrolment.

He said, “Our target is very clear: within one week of enrolment, every Nigerian should have their passport in hand. Not just delivering quickly, but delivering quality passports that reflect our integrity as a nation.”

He said the new passport system was designed to eliminate long delays and extortion that once forced citizens to wait six to seven months or pay as much as N200,000 to fast-track processing.

“The system that we inherited that had six months backlog which we were able to clear in two-and-a-half weeks. That system that was inefficient. Nigerians will apply for passport, it will take six to seven months to get it. A system that for passport, you need to pay N200,000 to N250,000.

“That system we inherited was inefficient. Nigerians will apply for passports and wait endlessly, or be asked to pay hundreds of thousands of naira. My own daughter had that bad experience. Even when I was chairman of the House Committee on NDDC, my daughter wanted passport, it was a problem. I had to pay hundreds of thousands to be able to get a passport for my daughter, a 12-year-old girl. That era is over,” Tunji-Ojo said.

The minister explained that the centralised personalisation centre, the largest in Africa, will ensure faster processing and stricter security.

“With this facility, we can print five times more passports than we currently need. Once you enrol, it doesn’t take us more than 24 hours to vet. Printing capacity is no longer our problem,” he said.

Tunji-Ojo also announced that Passport Control Officers (PCOs) will no longer have the power to approve or delay passport applications, following revelations that some of them were at the centre of corruption and inefficiency in the system.

He said the reform was aimed at curbing racketeering, eliminating delays, and restoring integrity to Nigeria’s travel documents.

“Some PCOs had so much power that they could decide not to approve or not to print a passport until they were settled. That abuse of power ends now,” Tunji-Ojo said.

He also explained that centralising the approval process will ensure that passport applicants are no longer at the mercy of individual officers.

“We realised that the best way to cut corruption is to remove human contact to the barest minimum. Passport approval will no longer rest with PCOs. My responsibility is not for them to like me — it is to deliver efficiency. Let Nigerians be happy,” he said.

But speaking with THISDAY, some immigration officials said that it sounds good listening to the minister but the reality is that both Nigerians seeking to obtain or renew their passports and the immigration officials will create encumbrances that will impede the easy access to getting the passport as proposed by the minister.

One of the officials told THISDAY that about 60 per cent of Nigerians who want to obtain passport would rather go straight to immigration officials instead of patiently accessing Nigeria immigration portal (immigration.gov.ng).

Also, the infrastructure put in place by the Nigeria Immigration Service may become overstretched when there is heavy traffic due to high application request and, “At this point some of the applicants will become frustrated and start looking for who to help them. At the end of the day you will notice that many Nigerians willy-nilly pay more to obtain the passport than the new price.”

A retired immigration official who left office as Deputy Controller General, told THISDAY that many Nigerian citizens are protesting against the hike in the price of international passport, saying that the increase has become too frequent.

“For the past 30 years we have not witnessed this rate of increase. Within one year the price has increased tremendously. What is the justification for the increase? The suppliers of the passport are not complaining. The logistics are still the same. I can tell you that the passport is overpriced and people will still bribe their way to get the passport in that amount; so, at the end a Nigerian can be paying over N300, 000 to obtain the 64-page passport. Truth is that some people have built into the system what will be giving them money long after they have left their political appointment, but it is ordinary Nigerians that are paying for it. Now, you pay N100, 000 for the 32-page passport, you pay N8000 for bank charges, which is N108, 000, the applicant is already paying over N100, 000. In addition to this, there will still be some other hidden charges. This is when the applicant chose to follow the official process,” he said.

THISDAY gathered that the cost of a Nigerian passport has risen dramatically in the last 30 years, with significant increases in 2024 and 2025, culminating in the 64-page passport costing N200,000 and the 32-page passport costing N100,000 as of September 1, 2025. This marks a substantial rise from previous costs, which were significantly lower in 2023 and before. However, the latest price hike aims to address issues like delays and extortion in the passport issuance system.

But it is worth noting that in 2015, a standard Nigerian passport of 32 pages cost just N15,000. 

THISDAY also spoke to travel journalist and blogger, Adachi Uchendu, who has done documentaries on the Nigerian passport. She said that any applicant who follows the process can apply for the passport online and get his or her passport without interfacing with anyone.

“I have been studying the process for some time, especially since the current minister of interior introduced the revolutionary changes in the process. I recall when Nigerians overseas lament over the difficulty they go through to renew their passports. Now you can return home with your expired passport and renew it in Nigeria. Even the process overseas has been made easy.

“But during my interaction with some Immigration officials they told me clearly that some Nigerians do not like following the process; that they will still come to the immigration officials to assist them. The official told me that if there is surge in demand and the system experiences glitch, applicants will seek assistance from immigration officials.

“So, government can put this transparent process in place, but the human system will still disrupt it. However, I followed the process to obtain passport for my younger sister without any interface with anybody,” she said.

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