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Why there’s disparity in passport charges – Nigerian Immigration explains

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The Nigeria Immigration Service (NIS) has explained the reasons for the discriminatory Passport charges, insisting that the document charges are the same across the country but with exception.

The reaction is contained in the Service verified Twitter handle on Thursday.

There was outrage on Twitter by Nigerians following NewsWireNGR reports showing the massive disparity in the cost of Passport between states, citing examples of Ekiti and Kaduna, where the charge was N25,000 and N10,750, respectively, for the 32-page 5-year Standard Passport.

The Service, however, clarified that Kaduna was still on electronic mode and yet to be linked to the enhanced ePassport Centre, hence the disparity in the charges.
It, therefore, dismissed the report as not only laughable but also very pedestrian.
“The attention of the Comptroller General, NIS, Mr Isah Jere, has been drawn to some stories about discriminatory passport charges for passport applicants in the North and South of the country.
“The Passports we issue are for Nigerians irrespective of where they live, including those in the diaspora.
“What we do have are two Passport regimes that are running concurrently.
“They are the electronic Passport and enhanced electronic Passport, and the latter is an improvement of the former.
“It is a product of the latest technology in passport issuance. It has improved security features, a polycarbonate data page and comes in three categories of 32-page five-year validity for N25,000, 64-page five-year for N35,000 and 64-page 10-year validity for N70,000.
“It was unveiled sometime in 2019 and in seven Passport Centres including Ikoyi, Abuja, Alausa, FESTAC, Portharcourt, Kano and Gwagwalada that were immediately migrated to the enhanced Passport regime then,” it said.
The NIS further explained that the electronic Passport was the usual one the country has been issuing since the introduction of the e-Passport in 2007.
“The chargeable fee range from N8,750 to N17,800 depending on the applicant’s age and category of Passport.
“The Service is steadily migrating all its Passport Centres to the enhanced ePassport regime.
“To this effect, all the South-South, South-West and South-East centres including our desks in the UK and USA have been fully migrated to the enhanced regime.
“In the work plan, centres in the North-West, North-East, Canada and others are getting ready for migration to the enhanced Passport regime very soon,” the statement added.
The Service advised those peddling such empty narratives to get educated by the clarification.

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