The 2023 presidential candidate of the Labour Party (LP), Peter Obi, has criticised President Bola Tinubu’s administration for increasing the cost of international passports.
Mr Obi, a former governor of Anambra State, stated in a post on his X handle on Thursday.
Hike in passport fees
PREMIUM TIMES earlier reported that the Nigeria Immigration Service (NIS) on Thursday announced an upward review of Nigerian Standard Passport fees with effect from 1 September
The NIS said in the new rates, applications made in Nigeria, which cost N50,000 for a 32-page booklet with five-year validity, will now cost N100,000 for the same page and validity period.
It said a 64-page passport booklet with 10 years validity will now cost N200,000 from N100,000.
The Nigerian government had previously increased passport fees in August last year.
The government said last year’s increase, which took effect on 1 September 2024, was an effort to maintain the quality and integrity of the Nigerian passport system.
NIS, at the time, had increased the cost of a 32-page passport booklet with a five-year validity from N35,000 to N50,000.
It also increased the 64-page passport booklet with a 10-year validity from N70,000 to N100,000.
‘Burden on Nigerians’
Reacting in the X post, Mr Obi claimed Mr Tinubu’s administration was obsessed with putting a burden on Nigerians, saying such an obsession has continued to reveal the administration’s “apparent disconnect” with the people and the suffering.
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“This is the third increase in just two years.
“In a country where the new minimum wage is only N70,000, the cost of a single passport now exceeds a worker’s monthly salary, probably the only country in the world to achieve this feat,” he wrote.
The former governor said rather than make life easier for Nigerians, Mr Tinubu has continued to make ordinary Nigerians bear the brunt of harsh financial burdens in the country.
“It is alarming that the price of the international passport (in Nigeria) is higher than what workers earn in a month,” he said.