By Chinwendu Agoha (Governance Reporter)
The authorities of the Nigeria Immigration Service (NIS) have explained the alleged discriminatory charges in the issuance of travel passports at it's Northern and Southern Regions offices.
The explanation followed a trending news report on Thursday in an online news media, Peoples Gazette, stating that it's field findings, revealed that there is a general price discrepancy of about Ten Thousand Naira (N10,000) on all categories of International travel passports issued in parts of Northern states of Nigeria as against the Southern States.
But in a swift reaction to that news report, the NIS in a post on it's official Twitter handle same Thursday, allayed public concern, claiming that the said cost disparity is facilitated by the different passport regimes being concurrently run at it's offices.
According to the NIS, “They are the electronic passport and enhanced electronic passport. The latter is an improvement of the former. It is a product of the latest technology in passport issuance. It has improved security features, a poly carbonate data page and comes in three categories of 32-page five-year validity for N25,000, 64-page five- year for N35,000 and 64-page 10-year validity for N70,000.”
The Immigration Service further explained that “It was unveiled sometime in 2019 and in seven Passport Centres including Ikoyi, Abuja, Alausa, FESTAC, Port Harcourt, Kano and Gwagwalada that were immediately migrated to the enhanced Passport regime then.”
However, the Peoples Gazette, in it's originating report, had disclosed that the Nigeria Immigration Service charges more for the issuance of passports in the Southern region of the country compared to the North, which, according to it, has created a public impression of favouritism against the people and interest of the Southern Nigeria.
The online news report specifically said that it found that
a 32-page passport for persons between zero to 17 years costs N10,750 in Adamawa, Bauchi, Benue, Borno, Gombe, Jigawa, Kaduna, Kano, Katsina, Kebbi, Kogi, Nasarawa, Niger, Plateau, Sokoto, Taraba, Yobe and Zamfara states.
The same passport, it claimed, is issued at the rate of N25,000 for those in the Southern Region in states like Abia, Akwa-Ibom, Anambra, Bayelsa, Cross-River, Delta, Ebonyi, Edo, Ekiti, Enugu, FCT, Imo, Kwara, Lagos, Ogun, Ondo, Osun, Oyo and Rivers.
The report also claimed that a 64-page passport in the teenagers category in the aforementioned Northern states goes for N22,000 while southerners in the same age group are expected to pay N35,000 to obtain the mandatory travel document.
Persons between 18 to 59 years applying for a 32-page passport with 5 years validity pay N17,000 and in the North whereas their southern counterparts pay N25,000 for the same document.
While a 64-page passport for the 18 to 59 age group is issued at the rate of N22,000 in the Northern region, Southerners are asked to pay N35,000. Although, northerners in this age group cannot access a 10-year validity passport, southerners are billed N70,000 for the document.
Northerners aged 60 and above applying for a 32-page passport are expected to pay N10,750 and N22,000 for a 64-page passport. Their counterparts in the South pay N25,000 and N35,000. NNL.
