The federal government has offered an explanation on why it increased the cost of the Nigerian passport.
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The explanation was offered by the Minister of Interior, Dr. Olubunmi Tunji-Ojo when the Ministry held its mid-tenure performance retreat in Abuja on Thursday.
The Nigeria Immigration Service announced a hundred per cent increase inpassport fees on Thursday.
In a statement by its Public Relations Officer, ACI AS Akinlabi, the NIS said from September 1, 2025, applications made within Nigeria will attract new fees of N100,000 for the 32-page, five-year validity passport and N200,000 for the 64-page, 10-year validity passport.
For Nigerians in the Diaspora, they will continue to pay $150 for the 32-page, five-year passport and $230 for the 64-page, 10-year passport.
Tunji-Ojo 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.
“The system that we inherited had a six-month 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 a passport, it was a problem.
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“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 disclosed that the centralised personalisation centre, the largest in Africa, would ensure faster processing and tighter security.
He added: “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.”
The Minister disclosed that Passport Control Officers will no longer have the power to approve or delay applications, adding: “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 said centralising the approval process would curb corruption and restore credibility to Nigeria’s travel documents, adding that the reforms will also protect the integrity of Nigeria’s passport.
Tunji-Ojo said: “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.
“My responsibility is not just to make passports available, but to ensure that anybody carrying it is a Nigerian.
“If you are not a Nigerian, you cannot carry it.
“It’s about our national integrity.
“In one incident, a Ugandan woman carrying a Nigerian passport was arrested at Lagos Airport after paying $1,000 to procure it.
“That cannot continue.
“Our passport must remain a true symbol of Nigerian identity.”
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