The Public Character The board Commission revealed this in a proclamation endorsed by its Head, Corporate Correspondences, Kayode Adegoke, on Monday.
The purpose of the fee, according to the commission, is to prompt NIN verification to enhance the speed, accuracy, and quality of passport services.
It stated that it and the Nigerian Immigration Service had reached an agreement on this framework. According to the National Information Management Center (NIMC), “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 journey that will significantly improve the speed of passport issuance and re-issuance and reduce traffic to the NIS office(s),” it added. On April 1, the new NIS procedure, fees, and NIN service will become operational.
The commission states that for NIN verification, Nigerians will pay N1000 in Nigeria, $5 in other African nations, and $15 elsewhere.
The NIMC says that NIN is supposed to connect a person’s records. The National Identity Database is supposed to contain an individual’s demographic information, fingerprints, head-to-shoulder facial picture, other biometric data, and digital signature, all of which must be confirmed and verified through NIN. Isah Idris, the Acting Comptroller General of the Nigeria Immigration Service, recently blamed the integration of data between NIS and NIMC for the passport delays.
He stated, “The integration of data between the NIS and the NIMC, which also, in turn, integrate with the BVN data of applicants could be the cause of the delay in the processing of passport applications.”