Nigeria High Commission refunds £50 to UK passport applicants

n n

The Nigerian High Commission in the United Kingdom has announced a £50 refund for applicants who paid a £70 administrative fee for the ongoing passport intervention exercise.

n

The commission said the applicants would retain £20 as the standard administrative fee.

n

The announcement was contained in a notice published on the Nigeria High Commission’s website on Friday.

n

“This is to inform all passport intervention applicants that have paid £70 admin fee that £50 will be refunded to you, £20 being the standard admin fee,” the notice read.

n

The development comes after complaints over charges and difficulties experienced by Nigerians during the special passport intervention exercise in the UK.

n

On September 8, the Federal Government had denied introducing additional charges for the exercise, saying applicants were required to pay only the official passport fees, excluding applicable bank charges.

n

The Interior Ministry said neither it nor the Nigeria Immigration Service had introduced charges outside the official passport fees.

n

The NIS subsequently said on September 11 that no additional charges were required to participate in the intervention exercise.

n

The passport intervention exercise, which was initially scheduled to end on September 19, has been extended in London and Manchester to October 3 following a high turnout of applicants.

n

The NIS said 1,477 Nigerians were successfully processed and enrolled within the first four days of the exercise, with more than half of the passports already produced and dispatched.

n

PUNCH also reported on Saturday that technical problems had disrupted the exercise at the Manchester intervention centre, with applicants complaining about delays and uncertainty over fees and procedures.

n n