KEY POINTS
- Minister says increase in passport fee due to exchange rate of naira to the dollar.
- Fresh passport increases by about forty five percent from thirty five thousand naira to fifty thousand.
- Increase in fees does not impact on Nigerian residing in other countries.
The Nigerian Minister of Interior, Olubunmi Tunji-Ojo, recently defended the recent increment that has occurred in the prices of Nigerian passport saying that the increase which includes physical and e-passport price is because of the dollar to naira exchange rate. Speaking to the media on Friday afternoon in Abuja, Tunji-Ojo said that the new charges which are about 45 percent more than the previous fees are due to the effect of change in forex which has pressured up the operational costs.
The Nigerian Immigration Service had in August increased the passport fees making the cost of a 32-page passport booklet with five-year validity to ₦50,000 from ₦35,000. Further, the 64-page booklet with a validity expiring ten years now go for ₦100, 000 up from ₦70, 000.
Passport fee raise and people’s reaction
However the increase has not been welcomed well by many Nigerians who have accused the government of making emigration more expensive, Tunji-Ojo, defended the move stating that it was necessary for economic reasons. “It’s about cost-benefit ratio, even with respect to the dollar to naira convertibility,” Instead, he said, “If subsidies are to be given, passports should not be the priority.”
The minister therefore pointed out that the increase is for passports produced in Nigeria only, and was quick to add that the new price will not affect those who live in Nigeria but intend to get their passport from other countries. He reaffirmed the governments’ attitude to reverse the indignity of Nigerian passports saying that the new fee charges are reasonable because of the effects caused by forex.
Ways of sustaining passport quality are as follows:
According to The Punch, He also briefly discussed on the issues to do with the quality offered by the Nigerian passports arguing that they should be as good as other international passports even though costs are on the rise. He again pointed to the fact that the increase in fees was inevitable due to gradually rising cost of production and the materials required, both this aspects depend much on currency exchange rates.
The minister called on his fellow citizens to broaden their economic vision and insisted that Nigeria has to maintain it’s passport services industry figures on the highest level.
