The Nigerian High Commission in the United Kingdom has announced a £50 refund for applicants who paid a £70 administrative fee during the ongoing passport intervention exercise.
The commission said only £20 would be retained as the standard administrative charge, while the remaining £50 would be refunded to affected applicants.
The announcement was made in a notice published on the Nigeria High Commission’s website on Friday.
“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.
The refund followed complaints from Nigerians in the UK over the charges and challenges encountered during the special passport intervention exercise.
Earlier on September 8, the Federal Government had denied imposing any additional fees for the exercise, stating that applicants were only required to pay the official passport charges, apart from applicable bank charges.
The Interior Ministry also clarified that neither it nor the Nigeria Immigration Service had introduced any fees outside the approved passport charges.
The NIS subsequently reiterated on September 11 that applicants were not required to pay additional charges to participate in the intervention exercise.
Meanwhile, the passport intervention exercise, initially scheduled to end on September 19, has been extended to October 3 in London and Manchester following the high turnout of applicants.
The NIS said 1,477 Nigerians were processed and enrolled within the first four days, while more than half of the passports had already been produced and dispatched.
The development came amid technical difficulties at the Manchester intervention centre, where applicants had complained about delays and uncertainty surrounding fees and procedures.
