Peter Obi, the Labour Party presidential candidate in the 2023 general elections, and Mr Bunmi Ojo, the Interior Minister have maintained different positions on the increase in International Passport fees. Nigeria Immigration Service, in a statement on Thursday signed by its Public Relations Officer, ACI AS Akinlabi, announced that from September 1, 2025, applications made within Nigeria will attract new fees of ₦100,000 for the 32-page, five-year validity passport and ₦200,000 for the 64-page, 10-year validity passport.
Obi complained on his official X handle, that the obsession of this administration with putting a burden on the populace is becoming legendary. According to Obi, instead of making life easier, the government keeps shifting the burden onto ordinary Nigerians. “It is alarming that the price of the international passport is higher than what workers earn in a month,” he wrote.
However, the Minister of Interior, Olubunmi Tunji-Ojo explained that the upward review of Nigerian passport fees to ₦100,000 and ₦200,000, would ensure timely delivery of passport and eliminate corruption.
Speaking, the Minister Tunji-Ojo, said that the increment was designed to eliminate long delays and extortion that once forced citizens to wait up to seven months or pay as much as ₦200,000 to fast-track processing.
In his words: “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.
“The system that we inherited that had six months backlog which we were able to clear in two and a half weeks. 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.”
The minister disclosed that the centralised personalisation centre, the largest in Africa, would ensure faster processing and tighter 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 explained.
As part of the reforms, Tunji-Ojo announced that Passport Control Officers will no longer have the power to approve or delay applications.
“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,” he declared.
Leave a Reply