Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari has ordered that the validity of Nigerian passports issued in the country should be increased from five to 10 years.
Comptroller-general of Nigerian Immigration Service (NIS), Muhammed Babandede Thursday at the Ikoyi passport office in Lagos, also said that the president has approved improved security features and quality for the passport booklets.
“He (Buhari) has approved 10-year validity for passports which is great news. When the report comes, passports will be valid for 10 years which is great news especially for adults from the age of 18 and above,” Babandede said.
Babandede noted that the development will have people to pay more to get the passport and the e-passport system security features will be improved which will ease the stress of renewing passports.
“People will pay more if they can pay more and get the booklets quickly, it’s good with improved security for 10 years validity.”
“You can’t keep documents for 10 years without seeing decreased values in them, so we are improving the security features which would raise the standards of the passports.”
“And we will ensure it is done before the end of this year because the booklet has to change,” he added.
