DistantNews
Support us
🇳🇬 Nigeria /Culture & Society

Federal Government denies imposing new passport charges on Nigerians in UK

From The Punch · () English

Translated from English and summarized by DistantNews. Read the original for the full story.

At a glance

News Official statement Ongoing story
  • The Nigerian government denied adding charges to passport applications under a special intervention exercise in the United Kingdom.
  • It said applicants should pay $150 for a five-year passport or $230 for a 10-year passport, excluding bank charges.
  • The clarification followed complaints about delays at centres including Manchester, where applicants reported waiting for hours without receiving assistance.

Nigeria’s Federal Government has rejected claims that it introduced extra charges for citizens applying for passports in the United Kingdom. The clarification came after complaints about delays and inconvenience at special intervention centres, including one in Manchester.

Interior Minister Olubunmi Tunji-Ojo said the exercise was created to give Nigerians in the UK more options for processing applications. The ministry said the only official fees were $150 for a five-year passport and $230 for a 10-year passport, excluding applicable bank charges.

Neither the Ministry of Interior nor the Nigeria Immigration Service has introduced any other charges outside the aforementioned.

· Nigeria Ministry of InteriorThe ministry clarified that applicants should pay only the stated passport fees, apart from bank charges.

“Neither the Ministry of Interior nor the Nigeria Immigration Service has introduced any other charges outside the aforementioned,” the ministry said. The minister added that consultations with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs were continuing to address the difficulties reported by applicants.

The ministry also encouraged applicants to use the contactless biometric passport application system as an alternative. The response followed a social media complaint from Oluomo of Derby, who said people arriving at the Manchester centre at 9 a.m. were still waiting at 11:30 a.m. without receiving attention. He urged the authorities to improve the organisation and communication of the exercise.

It is now 11:30 a.m., and people who arrived as early as 9:00 a.m. are still waiting, with nothing happening.

· Oluomo of DerbyHe described delays at the Passport Intervention Centre in Manchester.
About this summary

Originally published by The Punch in English. Translated, summarized, and contextualized automatically by DistantNews, with a note on how the source frames the story. Not individually reviewed before publishing. How this works.

More Stories

From Our Blog