The Federal Government has justified its decision to raise the cost of Nigerian passports to N100,000 and N200,000, describing the move as necessary to sustain quality, reduce corruption, and ensure timely delivery of travel documents.
The Nigeria Immigration Service (NIS), in a statement issued on Thursday by its Public Relations Officer, ACI AS Akinlabi, announced that the new rates will take effect from September 1, 2025. Under the new regime, applicants in Nigeria will pay N100,000 for the 32-page, five-year validity passport, while the 64-page, 10-year validity passport will cost N200,000.
The NIS clarified that the new fees apply only to applications made within Nigeria. Nigerians in the diaspora will continue to pay $150 for the 32-page, five-year booklet and $230 for the 64-page, 10-year passport.
According to the service, the upward review is intended to preserve the integrity of Nigeria’s passport and improve the efficiency of its issuance processes.
This adjustment comes barely a year after a previous increment in August 2024, when fees were raised from N35,000 to N50,000 for the 32-page, five-year passport, and from N70,000 to N100,000 for the 64-page, 10-year version.
Speaking in Abuja during the Ministry of Interior’s mid-tenure performance retreat on Thursday, Minister of Interior, Dr. Olubunmi Tunji-Ojo, defended the hike, stressing that the government’s goal is to end the long delays and extortion that have plagued passport processing for years.
“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,” Tunji-Ojo said.
He explained that the reform was designed to eliminate corruption by reducing human contact in the application process, noting that in the past, some Passport Control Officers (PCOs) exploited applicants by withholding approvals unless bribes were paid.
“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,” the minister declared.
He disclosed that the establishment of a centralised personalisation centre, the largest of its kind in Africa, will ensure faster processing and enhanced 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 stated.
Tunji-Ojo also stressed that the reforms were not only about speed but also about safeguarding Nigeria’s identity.
“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,” he said.
He recalled previous incidents of abuse, including the arrest of a Ugandan woman at Lagos Airport who had illegally obtained a Nigerian passport after paying $1,000.
“That era is over. Our passport must remain a true symbol of Nigerian identity,” he added.
The minister assured Nigerians that the new measures would permanently end backlogs, extortion, and delays that once forced applicants to wait months or pay as much as N200,000 to fast-track their passports.