Starting from April 1, 2023, the National Identity Management Commission (NIMC) has announced that Nigerians who intend to obtain an international passport will need to pay a fee of N1000 for the integration and verification of their National Identification Number (NIN).
The NIMC clarified that the N1000 payment will be uniform across all locations in Nigeria, whereas it will cost $5.00 or the equivalent amount in local currency for other African countries, and $15 for candidates in non-African countries or its equivalent in the respective country’s currency.
The NIMC yesterday, issued a statement to that effect and according to the Head, of Corporate Communications, Mr. Kayode Adegoke, the Commission stated: “NIMC wishes to inform the general public that it has devised and agreed on a framework with the Nigerian Immigration Service (NIS) to significantly improve the quality of service, accuracy, and speed of passport services through the timely verification of the NIN.
“This new arrangement is in furtherance of the Federal Ministry of Communications and Digital Economy’s directive to streamline passport application, renewal, and issuance processes.
“Consequently, a NIN Verification fee would be charged for each Nigerian passport application for this service.”
Over time, the number of Nigerians added to the national database has continually increased as the total number of enrollees by the NIMC rose to 95 million, according to the latest data.
In 2022, the commission enrolled 21.3 million people on the database which made the country close last year with 94,037,793. It is important to note that as of January 2022, the number of NIN issued stood at 72,700,360.
NIMC added 1,040,124 new NINs to the database in the first 22 days of 2023, bringing the current figure to 95,077,917.
According to the NIMC, and the NIS, the new move aims to significantly improve the pace of passport issuance/re-issuance and also, cut down the traffic usually encountered at the NIS offices nationwide.
