Passport Pandemonium: Navigating the Maze of Nigerian Passport Renewal Abroad

Getting a Nigerian passport has become an expensive, bureaucratic marathon designed to test both patience and pocket. Imagine this: you’re in London, trying to renew your expired Nigerian passport. You submit your application, and the system graciously offers you a four-month wait just for an appointment. Yes, 120 days from application to meeting your fate at the Nigerian High Commission. But hey, that’s just the appetizer.

Let’s talk fees: it’s $150 for a 32-page passport (not even the glossy kind with perks!). Add an extra $12 as a “service charge,” probably for the computer operator or maybe the Internet they forgot to budget for. Fun fact: the cost of processing a UK debit card payment is 10 pence, or ￡0.10. So, what exactly is this $12 fee for? Perhaps the online form needs a special blessing.

Finally, after leaping through these bureaucratic hurdles, you arrive at the High Commission 120 days later, only to be told to bring a ￡20 postal order. At this point, you’re left wondering if Nigerian foreign affairs workers are being paid at all. Total cost: roughly ￡150 (or over 300,000 naira) for five years of passport ownership, which boils down to about ￡30 per year. Back in Nigeria, that same passport costs about 50,000 naira ($31). So why the difference? Is it because you live abroad and must be loaded with foreign currency? (Spoiler: richer Nigerians are back home, not struggling in the diaspora).

Now, compare this with getting a passport in countries like Germany, where the process is efficient, costs roughly €60 ($65), and gives you 10 years of international freedom. Meanwhile, the U.S. charges about $165 for a 10-year passport, but they throw in the option for expedited service. Even Canada, known for its maple syrup and politeness, offers a 10-year passport for CAD 160 ($120). So why does Nigeria charge double, triple, or more with shorter validity?

It costs between $5 and $10 to physically produce a passport. So why not offer a 10-year passport? Or 30 years, while we’re at it? Could the real reason for these exorbitant fees be to slow down the “Japa” movement—a term for Nigerians leaving in droves to escape the bad governance. If the plan is to stop the exodus, maybe try fixing the country first? Just a thought. Because right now, Nigeria seems like paradise—for politicians and a few well-connected criminals. The rest of us? We're just trying to renew a passport.