By Emmanuel Thomas l Tuesday, Sept 08, 2026
ABUJA, Nigeria — Facing mounting frustration from citizens living abroad over delays in obtaining travel documents, Nigeria’s government on Monday sought to reassure its sizable diaspora in the United Kingdom that an emergency processing initiative carries no extra official costs.
The Nigerian Minister of Interior, Olubunmi Tunji-Ojo, said in a statement that a “special passport intervention exercise” introduced in the U.K. was meant to streamline applications and reduce massive backlogs, not extract additional funds from citizens.
Addressing complaints regarding the processing of international travel documents, Mr. Tunji-Ojo clarified that fixed official rates remain at $150 for a five-year passport and $230 for a ten-year validity passport, exclusive of standard bank charges.
”Neither the Ministry of Interior nor the Nigeria Immigration Service has introduced any other charges outside the aforementioned,” said Alao Babatunde, a spokesperson for the minister, in the press release.
Mr. Tunji-Ojo added that the ministry is actively consulting with Nigeria’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs to address service bottlenecks so that “inconveniences during this process do not persist any longer.”
The clarification comes as Nigeria’s diaspora population—one of the largest African migrant communities in Britain—continues to express frustration over the bureaucratic hurdles of renewing documentation needed for employment, travel, and legal status.
The passport delivery pipeline for overseas Nigerians has long been plagued by operational strain.
The Nigeria High Commission in London—the principal processing venue for tens of thousands of applicants—frequently struggles under heavy demand. Applicants have historically reported long wait times, missed appointments, and chaotic biometric capturing sessions, prompting the government to rollout periodic “intervention exercises” and remote enrollment options intended to relieve pressure on diplomatic facilities.
Since taking office under President Bola Tinubu’s administration, Mr. Tunji-Ojo has prioritized sweeping overhauls within the Nigeria Immigration Service. The ministry recently deployed a “contactless” mobile biometric passport renewal system.
Designed to eliminate the need for physical appearances at embassies or consular centers, the app allows eligible applicants to complete facial and fingerprint verification directly via smartphones.
While interior officials tout the contactless technology as a digital breakthrough that cuts waiting times to a matter of days, the transition has faced implementation hiccups.
In Britain, where an influx of students, healthcare staff, and skilled workers under recent visa schemes has ballooned demand, many applicants have voiced confusion over additional service charges levied by external service centers and diplomatic missions.
The government maintained that it remains dedicated to fulfilling its responsibilities to citizens both at home and abroad.
U.K.-based applicants were urged to bypass physical processing points whenever possible and make full use of the digital, contactless biometric system.
