The National Identity Management Commission (NIMC) on Monday stated that effective from April 1 this year applicants for Nigeria’s international passport would be paying for the verification of their National Identity Number (NIN) during the process of issuing the passport to them.
To ensure compliance with the latest directive, the commission has reeled out a set of fees payable by such applicants for the NIN verification service.
The NIMC indicated that Nigerians applying for the NIN within the country would be paying N1,000 while those applying from other African countries would be paying $5 or its equivalent in other currencies, and that those applying from countries outside Africa would be paying $15 or its equivalent in other currencies.
A statement issued and signed by the commission’s Head, Corporate Communications Department, Kayode Adegoke, indicated that the introduction of the payable fees on NIN verification was sequel to the development of a framework with the Nigerian Immigration Service (NIS) to fast-track passport processing and delivery to applicants.
The spokesman stated: “The National Identity Management Commission (NIMC) wishes to inform the general public that it has devised and agreed on a framework with the Nigerian Immigration Service (NIS) to significantly improve the quality of service, accuracy, and speed of passport services through the timely verification of the National Identity Number (NIN).
“This new arrangement is in furtherance of the Federal Ministry of Communications and Digital Economy’s directive to streamline passport application, renewal, and issuance processes. Consequently, a NIN verification fee would be charged for each Nigerian passport application for this service.
“NIMC and NIS have agreed on a revised applicant’s journey that will significantly improve the speed of passport issuance/re-issuance and reduce the traffic visiting the NIS office(s). The NIN service fees and the new NIS process will go live on 1st April 2023”, he added.
Curiously, the latest NIMC/NIS directive did not align with the announcement by the NIS last year, which was to enable Nigerians to verify their NIN on its website by themselves at no charge as part of its efforts to fast-track the issuance of international passports to applicants.
