Former Nigerian ambassadors have mentioned the brand new upward evaluation of the charges for Nigerian passports wouldn’t cut back the japa syndrome however somewhat worsen the hardship afflicting the folks.
The Nigeria Immigration Service lately introduced {that a} 100 per cent value increment for the passport would start on September 1, 2024 to make sure the standard and integrity of the Nigerian Customary Passport system.
The NIS mentioned a 32-page passport booklet with five-year validity beforehand charged at N35,000 has elevated to N50,000, whereas a 64-page passport booklet with 10-year validity which was N70,000 shall be N100,000.
However talking with Sunday PUNCH, a former ambassador to the Philippines, Yemi Farounbi, defined that though the increment is perhaps essential given the upsurge in inflation price, the transfer would solely worsen the hardship within the nation.
The previous ambassador mentioned, “There may be nothing whose value has not gone up within the final one 12 months. Sadly, the poor individuals are the carriers of this burden so somewhat than ease the burden on the frequent man or the typical Nigerian, we have now solely added to it. Rising the price of passports by nearly 100 per cent or thereabouts won’t discourage those that need to go away as a result of they’re being pulled by stronger forces than the price of passports.”
Additionally talking, a former Nigeria Consul to Cameroon, Rasheed Akinkuolie, famous that there have been necessary points the federal government ought to think about somewhat than rising the passport charges as extra folks had been at the moment affected by insecurity and the excessive inflation price affecting costs of things.
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