Nigeria will charge N1000 to verify a Nigerian’s National Identity Number when they apply for a passport. On Monday, the National Identity Management Commission made this announcement in a statement that was signed by Kayode Adegoke, the director of corporate communications.
The commission claims that by promptly verifying NIN, the fee would increase the timeliness, accuracy, and quality of passport services. It asserted that the Nigerian Immigration Service and it had agreed to this arrangement. The Federal Ministry of Communications and Digital Economy’s directive to simplify the passport application, renewal, and issuance processes is furthered by this new arrangement, according to NIMC.
“Consequently, a NIN Verification fee would be charged for each Nigerian passport application for this service.”
It added, “NIMC and NIS have agreed on a revised applicant 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.”
The commission states that Nigerians will pay N1000 in Nigeria, $5 in other African nations, and $15 in other nations for NIN verification.
According to the NIMC, NIN is meant to connect a person’s records. The National Identity Database, which is intended to be validated and verified by NIN, is where an individual’s demographic information, fingerprints, head-to-shoulder facial image, other biometric data, and digital signature are expected to be stored. Isah Idris, the acting comptroller general of the Nigerian Immigration Service, recently attributed the delay in passport issuing on the data integration between NIS and NIMC.
He said, “The delay in the processing of passport applications could be as a result of the integration of data between NIS and the NIMC, which also, in turn, integrate with the BVN data of applicants.”
