Following complaints over charges imposed on Nigerians during the special passport intervention exercise in the United Kingdom, the Nigerian High Commission in the UK has announced a £50 refund for applicants who paid a £70 administrative fee for the ongoing passport intervention exercise.
The commission said the applicants would retain £20 as the standard administrative fee.
The announcement was contained in a notice published on the Nigerian High Commission’s website at the weekend.
“This is to inform all passport intervention applicants that have paid the £70 admin fee that £50 will be refunded to you, £20 being the standard admin fee,” the notice read.
The development follows complaints about charges and difficulties Nigerians experienced during the special passport intervention exercise in the UK.
On September 8, the federal government had denied introducing additional charges for the exercise, saying applicants were required to pay only the official passport fees, excluding applicable bank charges.
The Interior Ministry said neither it nor the Nigeria Immigration Service had introduced charges outside the official passport fees.
The NIS subsequently said on September 11 that no additional charges were required to participate in the intervention exercise.
The passport intervention exercise, which was initially scheduled to end on September 19, has been extended in London and Manchester to October 3 following a high turnout of applicants.
The NIS said it successfully processed and enrolled 1,477 Nigerians in the first four days of the exercise, with more than half of the passports already produced and dispatched.
Technical problems disrupted the exercise at the Manchester intervention centre, with applicants complaining about delays and uncertainty over fees and procedures.