The Nigerian Immigration Service (NIS) has partnered with the National Identity Management Commission (NIMC) to improve the quality of service, accuracy, and speed of the passport issuance process in the country through the verification of the National Identification Number (NIN) at a token amount.
In a statement on Monday, March 13, 2023, signed by its Head of Corporate Communications, Kayode Adegoke, NIMC noted that the partnership furthered the Federal Ministry of Communications and Digital Economy’s directive to ease the process of passport application, renewal, and issuance.
To this end, a National Identity Number (NIN) verification fee would be charged for each Nigerian passport application. The NIN verification fee would be N1,000 for Nigerians; $5 for other African countries (or equivalent in other currencies); and $15 for non-African countries (or equivalent in other countries) and will be effective from April 1, 2023.
Adegoke also affirmed that the NIMC and NIS agreed on a revised applicant journey that would significantly improve the speed of passport issuance/re-issuance and reduce the traffic at NIS office(s).
In other news, the NIN issued by NIMC increased by 1.5 million in February, as the figure rose from 95 million in January to 96.5 million. In the data, 54.6 million males (56.5 per cent) and 41.9 million females (43.5 per cent) enrolled.
The highest enrolment figure of over 10.63 million was recorded in Lagos State, Kano followed with 8.4 million, Kaduna 5.7 million, Ogun 4.1 million, Oyo 3.8 million, and Abuja 3.3 million.
Others are Katsina 3.3 million, Rivers 2.9 million, Bauchi 2.6 million and Delta 2.58 million. The 10 states at the bottom of the pack are Kogi 1.67 million, Akwa Ibom 1.65 million, Imo 1.62 million, Enugu 1.55 million, and Yobe 1.46 million.
The rest are Taraba 1.42 million, Cross River 1.10 million, Ekiti 990,463, Ebonyi 774,263 and Bayelsa 611,229. According to NIMC, diaspora issuance is 366,164 comprising 156,651 females and 209,513 males.
THE GUARDIAN
