The Nigeria Immigration Service (NIS) has postponed the rollout of the new 10-year enhanced e-passport to April 29, 2019.

This is contained in a statement by the spokesperson of the NIS, Sunday James, who explained that the decision was to enable the Service to finalize the integration of the National Identity Number (NIN) with the new passport.

“Consequent upon this, the price of the current passport still remains the same,” he explained in the statement.

The NIS passport reforms involve the introduction of different categories of passport with various approved fees.

According to the NIS, the new passport with 32 pages will cost N25,000 and $130 abroad; the 64 pages with five years expiration time will cost N35,000 and $150 abroad while the 64 pages with 10-year validity will cost N70,000 in Nigeria and $230 abroad.

The enhanced passport was officially launched by President Muhammadu Buhari on January 16, 2019, who was immediately issued his own 10-year validity passport by the Comptroller General of Immigration, Mohammad Babandede.

Mr. Babandede later explained the advantages of the new passport, which he said would make it easier for security management.

Besides the 10-year validity, he said the new versions contain self-tracking of application, weather friendliness, polycarbonate technology to guard against damage and compliance with ICAO standard, among other features.

•Sourced from a Channels TV report