The notion of renewing my Nigerian international passport elicits feelings of dread, despair, exasperation, and exhaustion among Nigerians.
Despite the fact that an online portal has been created by Nigerian Immigration for the application for a Nigerian Passport, a lot of Nigerians still prefer to patronize staff and fraudulent agents who in turn collect two to three times the actual amount with claims to fast-track the process for them.
For instance, the official price for a 64-page Nigerian passport with a 10-year validity period is N70,000, while that with five years of validity is N35,000. Applicants for the new 32-page passport with a five-year validity period are to pay N25,000.
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However, some applicants part with as much as N40,000 to get the 32-page passport with five years of validity instead of N25,000, while the 64-page passport with 10-year validity is gotten by some people for as high as N250,000.
The Federal Government, through the NIS, has warned Nigerians to stop patronizing touts when applying to curb the trend.
According to the government, payments for Nigerian passports have been digitalized, which means that applicants can apply and pay for international passports online.
Several Nigerians shared their experiences with Nigerian Immigration agents and others who applied via the online route.
Narrating her experience Morenike Dosunmu a Nigerian Passport Applicant told Ikejabird that she had to pay the sum of 50,000 naira to an agent for a 32-page passport with five years of validity instead of N25,000 because she was discouraged by people who felt it will be easier to get it done with an agent.
When our reporter visited the NIS headquarters in Alausa, a man who claimed to be a staff of the service told our reporter to “bring money first, then your passport follows.”
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“To get a 32-page passport for five years is N60,000, non-negotiable. Just pay the money to me, and I will start the process. If you cannot pay, then you will have to follow the normal process, which costs about N30,000, and it can take forever for you to get your passport. So, if you want to wait for months, no problem, the ball is in your court,” he said.
Another applicant, Lukman who dammed all consequences to go through the online route said his passport took over four months before he could get it because he didn’t offer to bribe officials at the office. According to him, it took intervention from an influential person to help me get his passport, he also described them as the center of corruption in Nigeria.
Ikejabird found that many people out of desperation to avoid delays and meet up with their trips paid much more than the official N25,000 plus N1,000 bank charges to Immigration officers to fast-track their applications.
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