Chinedu Eze

Despite the deployment of advanced technology to expedite passport processing, coupled with the increase in the official rate of international passports by the federal government, officials of the Nigeria Immigration Service (NIS) are still extorting passport applicants, an undercover investigation carried out by THISDAY has revealed.

A Nigerian who recently applied for passport, and was asked to pay additional money or his passport would not be processed, narrated his experience to THISDAY.

The applicant revealed that he went to the Nigeria Passport Office at Alausa, Ikeja, Lagos and after filling the form online and made payment of N208, 000, for 10 years passport, one of the officials attached to the office of the Passport Controller Officer (PCO) insisted that he must pay N5000 cash before his passport would be processed.

According to the applicant, “I told him I don’t have the money but he insisted I must pay. The visibly angry officer told me, “you have the money to pay N208, 000 but you cannot pay N5000.” I called my auntie and told her about it, and she called a senior official in Abuja. I am sure the official in Abuja called the PCO, and the official was still insisting that I should pay, but I refused. He took me to the PCO who asked me my name. I told him and he asked me not to pay. That was how I did not pay but others who were also processing their passports paid the money. Some did not even ask questions. They just paid.”

THISDAY investigation confirmed that officials in all the passport offices except Abuja ask for additional payment and many Nigerians are angry because after increasing the price of the passport, raising cost of five years passport to N100, 000 with N4000 service charge and that of 10 years, N200, 000 with N8000 service charge, it is not expected that applicants should be forced to make other payments.

THISDAY spoke to a senior Immigration official in Abuja who stated that most Immigration officials are not happy because of the advanced system the Minister of Interior, Dr. Olubunmi Tunji-Ojo, has introduced in the application of passport, migrating the process to make it easy for Nigerians to apply and obtain their passports.

However, he alleged that the minister must be privy to the fact that such extortion is on-going. He recalled what the minister said previously; that he was transforming the process to make it easy for applicants to obtain their passports and also remove the bureaucracy, which led to backlogs and encouraged touting and extortion of applicants.

“All the PCOs outside Abuja are doing it and the minister cannot say he is not awaare. He must be getting information. The cost of passport has increased. People are no more coming to request for passport like before and despite the increase, the PCOs are still demanding for money,” he said.

He also told THISDAY that the downside of the online application for passport and what may be fuelling the extortion is that many Nigerians who are not educated or who may not be inclined to using computer and the Internet usually seek the services of Immigration officials and “they are ready to pay any amount they are charged.”

“Traders who want passport will come and ask the PCO to do everything for them and they will be ready to pay any amount you request from them,” he said.

The official also alleged that with the installation of central passport processing system, the minister had recruited some young tech skilled officials “who always dress smartly and who are managing the system. So, some of us have been side-lined. So, the workers of the company that provides the passport have taken over our jobs.

The official criticised the centralised printing of passport, saying that when passports were printed at the zones, distributing them was better, adding that the N2000 paid by applicants for their passports to be taken to their homes is not working because many do not have reliable addresses; so, at the end of the day, the applicants still come to passport offices in the states to collect them.

He also disclosed that the central processing equipment was infected with virus recently and it became dysfunctional giving rise to the destruction of about 800 booklets.

“It was easier when the passports were being printed at the zones but now, everything is done in Abuja, with provision for Lagos, but all the other states go to Abuja, including all the formations, all the embassies,” he said.

On September 18, 2025, the Special Adviser to the President on Information and Strategy, Bayo Onanuga, posted on his Facebook account that the Minister of Interior was improving the Nigerian passport process by centralising production, which has increased daily capacity from about 300 to over 4,500 passports, and by automating the application system.

“NIS to deliver passports within one week, scales up production capacity to 4,000–5,000 daily. The Nigeria Immigration Service (NIS) plans to deliver passports to Nigerians within one week, following the centralisation of passport production for the first time in 62 years,” Onanuga wrote.

However, THISDAY spoke to the Nigeria Immigration Service Public Relations Officer, Akinsola Akinlabi, who expressed doubt that extortion was going on, claiming that he had never heard about it.

“I have not heard this before. Applicants should do their payment online. We don’t have such going on,” he said.

Contrary to what the Immigration official said and Bayo Onanuga posted on his Facebook account, Akinlabi said that centralisation of the printing of passports has not started.

“Nobody has said centralisation has started. They are still producing at the zones, so claimed cost of logistics has not arisen,” he said.

On the allegation that some young, smart technical personnel have been deployed at the Immigration headquarters, he said that this was necessary because the IT skilled hands are needed to work on the passport production equipment.

“The reform is good. The deployment of those personnel is to make the process more efficient. We have cleared all the backlogs of passports. Obviously, most people don’t like the modernisation going on but whatever is being done is to enhance the skills of the Immigration officials and to make the job easier. So, whatever they are saying is unfounded. They need to understand the process,” the PRO said.

He also assured that no Immigration official would lose his job, noting that the Nigeria Immigration Service does not only provide passports to the citizens; there are range of other things they do like issuance of visa to foreigners and other key functions.

Akinlabi also reiterated that non-Immigration officers cannot do Immigration jobs, insisting that the passport workers are only migrate passport issuance from manual process to the automation mode.

Also, he said that Nigerians in the Diaspora are also obtaining their passports from major missions overseas. The applicants are made to download the app online and though contactless application, send their request to the mission and about two weeks after, they will receive their passports.

What this means is that most of the hype given to the centralisation of passport production is not true. The Nigeria Immigration Service is still in the process of actualising that and yet to start producing 4, 500 to 5, 000 passports every day.

Another issue that was pointed out was that the demand for passport has reduced due to the high cost; that even Immigration officials are irked by the increase, saying that there is no need for the increase in the first place because it is the same process like the past.

They also argued that automating the system ought to bring down the cost but the price has more than doubled without any input to justify the increase.

A retired Immigration official, who left office as Deputy Controller General, told THISDAY that the automation of the system cannot stop extortion because many Nigerians cannot process their passport online. “They must come back to the Immigration officials for help,” the retired Immigration official said.