President Muhammadu Buhari has approved the immediate extension of the validity period of International Passport from the initial five to 10-years.
This was made known by the Comptroller General of Immigration Service Muhammed Babandede on Thursday, said:
“The President 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,”
While speaking on the possible consequence of this new development, Mr. Babandede said that the development will definitely mean Nigerians will have 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.” He said.
“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 stated.