The Federal Government of Nigeria on Tuesday, 15 January 2019, unveiled the new Nigeria international passport with a 10-year validity. The unveiling follows the earlier announcement made by the Comptroller General of the Nigeria Immigration Service (NIS) in July 2018, stating that the President had given directives on extension of the validity of the international passports in order to ease the stress of renewing passports.

The new international passport will be enhanced with special features to ensure it remains durable for use throughout its 10-year validity period. Prior to this launch, the Nigeria international passport had been issued with a validity of 5 years.

This is another laudable initiative from the Federal Government, as the 10-year validity would enlist Nigeria amongst the countries issuing 10–years validity to its citizens. Furthermore, this development would eliminate the need to visit the NIS frequently for renewals after 5 years. However, the exact date of commencement of the issuance of the international passports to the populace has not been communicated by NIS. It is expected that the new passport will work concurrently with the existing passports and that the upscaling of the validity period will result in an increase in the price of the international passports.

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