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An exclusive undercover investigation by The MeridianSpy has uncovered a thriving racket within the Nigeria Immigration Service (NIS), where officers are extorting desperate Nigerians by inflating the official cost of passports.
On August 28, 2025, the NIS announced an upward review of passport fees, increasing the cost of a 32-page booklet (five years’ validity) from ₦50,000 to ₦100,000, and the 64-page booklet (10 years’ validity) from ₦70,000 to ₦200,000. Despite this official directive from the NIS headquarters in Abuja, officers at the Benin Immigration Service Office on Agbor Road, Edo State, are demanding between ₦160,000 and ₦200,000 for the 32-page booklet.
To verify mounting complaints from applicants, on Monday, The MeridianSpy deployed a reporter who posed as a citizen seeking a new passport. Inside the Benin office, he was told that the 32-page passport with five years’ validity would cost ₦160,000; well above the official price. The officer he spoke with casually dismissed the government’s approved rate, insisting that the inflated cost was “the reality on ground” if the applicant wanted the passport processed.
Seeking further confirmation, the reporter approached other officers in the same office, who quoted the same inflated price.
In a separate undercover interaction on Wednesday, another The MeridianSpy journalist contacted an officer at the Benin office over the phone, pretending to be an applicant. The officer initially refused to reveal the cost, saying: “You go come to office. We no dey discuss this matter for phone. Come office.” But after persistent questioning, he reluctantly quoted ₦150,000 for the 32-page passport.
Exploitation of Desperation
For millions of Nigerians, passports are not luxuries but lifelines, for education, medical travel, business, and migration in search of better opportunities. With the official increments already straining citizens, the illegal surcharges by immigration officers are worsening an already dire situation.
Applicants unable to meet the inflated demands face endless delays, bureaucracy, or outright denial of service. Those willing to pay are fast-tracked, creating a two-tier system that favours the wealthy and exploits the vulnerable.
“This is nothing but daylight robbery,” lamented a frustrated applicant who spoke to The MeridianSpy on condition of anonymity. “The government says ₦100,000, but once you get to the passport office, you’re told to bring ₦150,000 or more. If you don’t pay, they won’t process your passport.”
Efforts by The MeridianSpy to obtain an official response were unsuccessful. Calls and text messages sent to the Minister of Interior, Olubunmi Tunji-Ojo, through his media aide, went unanswered at the time of filing this report.
The silence from the authorities has fueled public suspicion that the extortion is either ignored or protected by higher-level interests within the immigration system.
A System in Crisis
This investigation highlights yet another layer of corruption in Nigeria’s passport issuance process, a system long plagued by racketeering, artificial scarcity, and exploitation of citizens. At a time when Nigerians are grappling with inflation, unemployment, and economic hardship, the illegal inflation of passport costs adds another burden to those already struggling to survive.
Concerned Nigerians are demanding urgent intervention from the Minister of Interior, Mr. Olubunmi Tunji-Ojo, and the Comptroller-General of Immigration, Kemi Nanna Nandap. Analysts warn that unless decisive steps are taken to dismantle entrenched rackets within the NIS, the promise of transparency and efficiency in passport issuance will remain an illusion.
For now, thousands of Nigerians remain trapped in a vicious cycle: forced to choose between paying illegal fees or facing endless delays in obtaining one of the most essential documents for their future.
