The Federal Government has explained its decision to maintain the current passport fee for Nigerians living abroad, unlike the recent increase implemented for those residing in the country.
The Minister of Interior, Olubunmi Tunji-Ojo, made this clarification while speaking to newsmen in Abuja.
Tunji-Ojo explained that the booklet used for Nigerian passports is imported and priced in dollars, meaning that as the naira-to-dollar exchange rate rises, the cost of the passport will also increase.
However, he noted that since Nigerians living abroad already deal in foreign currencies like the dollar, there is no need for an upward revision of their passport fees, so the price remains unchanged for them.
The Minister added that the goal of their ministry is to provide service, and not add to the burden of Nigerians with increase in prices.
“The booklet is imported which is dollar denominated. And at a time when you look at conversion rate of the dollar, there is no way the old price wouldn’t have led to subsidy. As a matter of fact, it was leading to subsidy.
“And we cannot do that. That’s why you realize that we didn’t increase the price of the passport in diaspora because the passport price in diaspora is dollar-dominated. Regardless of exchange, it has no effect.
“We are not looking at making profits off Nigerians. We are looking at serving the people. But when you look at how much a passport is supplied for beyond the logistics and the immigration officers, and convert it to naira, you’ll realize that the price when dollar N400 and when dollar is now N1,600 cannot be the same. That’s why we increased it from N34,000 to N60,000.
“When you look at even the rate of increase in terms of the exchange rate, the rate is lower.We increased to about 45%, but meanwhile the exchange rate has increased even more than that,” Tunji-Ojo said.
The federal government announced in August an upward review of passport fees for Nigerians residing within the country, effective from September 1st, 2024.
The announcement was made in a statement released by DCI KT Udo, the Service Public Relations Officer at the Service Headquarters of the Nigeria Immigration Service, as posted on the official X (formerly Twitter) account of the NIS.
Under the revised pricing structure, the cost of passport booklets will increase significantly. Specifically, the fee for obtaining a 32-page passport booklet with a 5-year validity will rise from N35,000 to N50,000.
Similarly, the cost of a 64-page passport booklet with a 10-year validity, previously priced at N70,000, will now be set at N100,000.
However, the federal government maintained the original price structure for Nigerians living abroad.
Nigeria’s passport system has seen notable improvements under the leadership of the Minister of Interior, Olubunmi Tunji-Ojo.
In August 2023, Tunji-Ojo instructed the Nigeria Immigration Service (NIS) to resolve a backlog of over 200,000 pending passport applications within two weeks.
By October 2023, the NIS confirmed it had successfully cleared the backlog and urged Nigerians to collect their passports from designated offices.
In May 2024, the government announced the launch of home passport delivery, set to begin in June, reducing the need for in-person visits to immigration offices. This initiative is part of a broader strategy to streamline passport issuance and enhance accessibility for citizens.
