Why Northern Nigeria pay less to process passports - Immigration This is coming following the backlash the agency received on social media...
Why Northern Nigeria pay less to process passports - Immigration
This is coming following the backlash the agency received on social media after it was revealed that Nigerians in the south pay more to process the Nigerian passport than their northern counterparts.
The alleged disparity: A quick check on the immigration website revealed a large disparity between the amount a typical applicant from Kaduna State would pay compared to an applicant from Ekiti State.
In one of the images that trended online on Thursday, September 1, 2022, an applicant in Kaduna between the age of 0-17 is expected to part with a total of N10,750 for a 32-page passport with five years validity.
However, an applicant from Ekiti state requesting for a passport with the same specifications is expected to pay N25,000 booklet fee alone.
This disparity cuts across several states in the northern and southern parts of the country as seen in the screenshots circulated online prompting allegations of discrimination by some Nigerians.
Immigration replies: Reacting to the development, the NIS in a series of tweets on its official Twitter page on Thursday, explained the cause of the disparity.
The statement credited to the Comptroller General of the agency, Isah Jere Idris, described the allegation of discrimination as laughable and pedestrian because the agency doesn't consider the applicants' state of residence before issuing passports.
He said the reason for the difference in price was because the NIS is currently running two Passport regimes concurrently - electronic Passport and enhanced electronic Passport.
The agency explained that, while some passport centres like Okoyi, Festac, Kano, Port Harcourt, Gwagwalada were immediately migrated to the enhanced electronic Passport regime, most of the states in the north are still operating on the electronic Passport regime, hence the price disparity.
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