From September 1, 2025, Nigerians applying for international passports must now pay ₦100,000 for a 32-page booklet and ₦200,000 for a 64-page, 10-year passport. With the national minimum wage fixed at ₦70,000, this decision catapults Nigeria into global infamy as the country with the world’s highest relative passport cost, starkly illustrating the growing disconnect between government policy and citizens’ realities.
This is not just a misguided policy. It is an economic aberration and a direct assault on the aspirations of millions of Nigerians. Yet the managers of the affairs of the nation have chosen for Nigeria to make another world history for the wrong reasons.
A passport should be a right, not a luxury
Passports are not luxury items. They are gateways to education, business, family reunification, and economic opportunity. In a globalised economy, the ability to move freely is increasingly tied to upward mobility. Yet, under the new regime, obtaining a passport in Nigeria now costs 143 percent of a worker’s monthly minimum wage.
To put this into context:
Passport fee comparison in global context
A shortsighted and regressive policy
The government has defended the hike as a revenue-boosting reform aimed at improving passport processing, curbing corruption, and modernising infrastructure. But these arguments crumble under scrutiny.
For millions of low- and middle-income Nigerians, this policy prices them out of opportunities. The wealthy and politically connected will pay without blinking; the rest are excluded from the very system that should empower them.
Diaspora impact: Shooting ourselves in the foot
The Nigerian diaspora remitted $23 billion in 2023, making them one of the country’s largest sources of foreign exchange. Yet, by making passports unaffordable, the government risks slowing migration pipelines, business travel, and talent mobility. These are all vital drivers of remittance flows.
This is an act of economic self-sabotage. A nation that cannot facilitate its citizens’ access to global opportunities undermines its own growth trajectory.
Reasonable alternatives exist
Nigeria does not need to squeeze citizens to fix its passport system. There are smarter, fairer approaches:
· Benchmark fees to income. It should be possible to cap costs at 10–15 percent of the minimum wage. Compared to minimum wage, a Nigerian passport should not cost more than ₦10,500.
· Introduce tiered pricing by lowering standard fees with modest surcharges for expedited processing.
· Subsidise vulnerable groups. Students, job seekers, and retirees have less disposable income and should pay less.
· Leverage technology, not citizens’ pockets. Evidence abounds that digitisation can reduce operating costs.
· Tie fees to service guarantees. A slightly higher cost, which should be optional, must mean faster, transparent, and trackable delivery.
Conclusion: A call for rethink
Leadership is about choices. This choice is the wrong one. A passport is a gateway to possibility, not a privilege for the wealthy. By setting its fees at the highest relative rate globally, Nigeria signals a troubling disregard for fairness, inclusion, and human capital.
The government must urgently reverse course and adopt a fee regime that aligns with economic realities, international norms, and Nigeria’s development priorities. Because no nation can prosper by locking its people behind economic borders.
Collins Nweke is a Senior Consultant in International Trade, Distinguished Fellow Researcher Administrator (DFRA), and Fellow Chartered Public Manager (FCPM). He is a former Green Councillor in Belgium’s Ostend City Council and ex-HR executive at UBA Plc.
