FG Justifies Fresh Passport Fee Hike, Says Move Will Ensure Quality, Curb Corruption, Speed Up Processing
The Federal Government has defended its recent decision to raise the cost of obtaining Nigerian passports, insisting the measure is essential to sustain quality, eliminate corruption, and guarantee timely delivery of travel documents.
The new rates, announced by the Nigeria Immigration Service (NIS), will take effect from September 1, 2025, and will apply only to applications made within the country. Under the revised structure, the 32-page passport with five-year validity will now cost ₦100,000, while the 64-page passport with ten-year validity will be issued at ₦200,000. Fees for Nigerians in the diaspora, however, remain unchanged at $150 for the 32-page booklet and $230 for the 64-page option.
Speaking at the Ministry of Interior’s mid-tenure retreat in Abuja, Minister of Interior, Dr. Olubunmi Tunji-Ojo, said the new pricing regime was not designed to impose hardship but to restore integrity to the passport system, which in recent years had been riddled with sharp practices, corruption, and prolonged delays.
He explained that the government’s ultimate target is for every applicant to receive a passport within one week of enrolment, a goal that he said would be achievable through ongoing reforms.
According to him, part of the bottlenecks in the system stemmed from unnecessary human discretion that gave room for extortion, a challenge he vowed the reforms would eliminate.
Tunji-Ojo further disclosed that the government has established a centralised passport personalisation centre, which he described as the largest in Africa. .
The facility is said to have the capacity to print up to five times the current demand for passports, ensuring that once an applicant completes enrolment, the vetting process does not take longer than 24 hours. He stressed that with this system in place, Nigerians would no longer need to pay unofficial fees or wait for months before securing their travel documents.
The Minister also recalled past cases where foreign nationals fraudulently obtained Nigerian passports by paying as much as $1,000, describing such practices as damaging to national security and identity.
He insisted that the reforms and the fee adjustments were designed to plug such loopholes and safeguard the credibility of Nigeria’s international travel documents.
While the government has continued to defend the increment as a necessary sacrifice for efficiency and credibility, the announcement has triggered mixed reactions among Nigerians. Many citizens have argued that the hike is ill-timed, given the prevailing economic hardship and inflationary pressures.
Critics also warned that increasing fees may not automatically eliminate corruption but could instead push desperate applicants back into unofficial channels if efficiency is not matched with transparency and accountability.
Despite the backlash, the Federal Government has maintained that the move is in the best interest of the public, stressing that it will bring an end to the era of long queues, delayed processing, and exploitation of citizens by middlemen.
For now, all eyes remain on the Immigration Service to see whether the bold promises of a one-week passport delivery will indeed materialise under the new system.
