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Background
The Nigeria Immigration Service (NIS) through the Comptroller-General of NIS, Mr Mohammed Babandede has recently announced plans to increase the validity of passports issued to adults from five (5) to ten (10) years. Passport validity of children will not be affected as it is expected that the facial features of children will change rapidly while growing up.
In essence, adult Nigerians will not require a renewal of their passports till 10 years as soon as this policy comes to force. The Comptroller-General of NIS has explained that this is part of the reforms by the Nigeria Immigration Service towards improving the process of issuing passports to Nigerians and the security features in the Passport.
Benefits
- This will increase the quality and security of the passport booklets.
- This will reduce the cumbersome burden on Nigerians to acquire passports every five years.
- This will address the long queues and ease the backlogs in both application and release of passports.
- This will also greatly benefit migrant workers as they travel outside the country for gainful employment and greener pastures.
Timeframe
- It is expected that the issuance of the new passport will commence before the end of the year.
Conclusion
Even though the passports will now be more expensive, this remains a good move by the Federal Government as most importantly, they will be available. We look forward to the commencement of this initiative.
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