The fall of Naira to foreign currencies would cost Nigerians to pay more for their international passports, according to Comptroller General of the Nigerian Immigration Service (NIS), Mr. Muhammad Babandede.
During the flag off of a capacity development programme organised by the NIS in conjunction with Huawei Technologies held yesterday in Abuja, Babandede disclosed the hike in fees was necessitated by the high cost of producing the booklets abroad, which had become unsustainable and uncompetitive under the current dispensation.
He said it had become increasingly difficult for the immigration service to pay for the passport booklets outside the country because of the fall in value of the naira.
“You will agree with me that air tickets have doubled, you are also aware that a lot of things have changed, but the passport fees have not changed. We cannot afford to service these passports with the current charges,” he said.
He added that service delivery would improve as soon as the federal government approves the new fees for the passports.
The production of the booklets, he said, is done under a private partnership arrangement and is not funded by government.