Nigeria Immigration Service Starts Issuing 64-Page, 10-Year-Validity Passports In Abuja
The Nigeria Immigration Service (NIS) has taken off issuing the new booklets passport with a 10-year validity
President Muhammadu Buhari launched the new passport in January, Muhammad Babandede, Comptroller-General of the NIS, revealing that the new passport booklets with 32 pages would cost N25, 000 at home and $130 abroad, the 64-page document with the five-year validity would require the applicant to pay N35, 000 and Nigerian in diaspora to pay $150, and the 64-page version with a 10-year validity cost N70, 000 in Nigeria and $230 overseas.
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“The new passport reform program is weather-friendly, International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) -compliant,” Babandede had said. “It has polycarbonate technology that eliminates damage, enhanced security features and saves Nigerians in the Diaspora time of the frequent visit to the Nigerian Embassy among others.”
Addressing the journalists around the NIS headquarters in Abuja on Monday during the inaugural issuance of the passport, Sunday James, Public Relations Officer of the NIS, said the new-look the booklet is part of the Nigerian Government’s effort to better the quality and surety of the travel document, while also reduce susceptibility to damage, and counterfeit.
James echoed that NIS’s previous warnings that applicants would be denied passports without supplying their National Identification Number (NIN). He added that to attain more accessible for applicants; the NIS had provided space for the National Identity Management Commission (NIMC) at the service headquarters, Abuja, to register applicants and issue them a NIN.
“The public is advised not to step on it for the new booklet, every bit the new enhanced passport will be given concurrently with the previous one,” he stated.
He said Babandede had engaged passport offices at the start command to continue to publish the old brochure, while only the service headquarters in Abuja would issue the new passport booklet.
He mentioned the improved polycarbonate booklet with 64 pages will be available in Ikoyi beginning from June 3, Alausa, Lagos from July 8, and London from July 29.It costs N70, 000.
