The Federal Government has explained its decision to maintain the current passport fee for Nigerians living abroad, unlike the recent increase implemented for those residing in the country.

The Minister of Interior, Olubunmi Tunji-Ojo, made this clarification while speaking to newsmen in Abuja.

Tunji-Ojo explained that the booklet used for Nigerian passports is imported and priced in dollars, meaning that as the naira-to-dollar exchange rate rises, the cost of the passport will also increase.

However, he noted that since Nigerians living abroad already deal in foreign currencies like the dollar, there is no need for an upward revision of their passport fees, so the price remains unchanged for them.

The Minister added that the goal of their ministry is to provide service, and not add to the burden of Nigerians with increase in prices.

“The booklet is imported which is dollar denominated. And at a time when you look at conversion rate of the dollar, there is no way the old price wouldn’t have led to subsidy. As a matter of fact, it was leading to subsidy.

“And we cannot do that. That’s why you realize that we didn’t increase the price of the passport in diaspora because the passport price in diaspora is dollar-dominated. Regardless of exchange, it has no effect.

“We are not looking at making profits off Nigerians. We are looking at serving the people. But when you look at how much a passport is supplied for beyond the logistics and the immigration officers, and convert it to naira, you’ll realize that the price when dollar N400 and when dollar is now N1,600 cannot be the same. That’s why we increased it from N34,000 to N60,000.

“When you look at even the rate of increase in terms of the exchange rate, the rate is lower.We increased to about 45%, but meanwhile the exchange rate has increased even more than that,” Tunji-Ojo said.

The Nigerian Railway Corporation (NRC) says it will address allegations of ticket racketeering on the Abuja-Kaduna train service (AKTS).

In a statement on Saturday, Yakub Mahmood, NRC’s deputy director of public relations, said some officials take advantage of the difficulties some passengers have with the online booking platform to engage in ticket racketeering.

He also appealed to the public, especially the passengers, to bear with the NRC, saying that the situation would soon be brought under control.

“Information has reached the management of the NRC on difficulties of passengers in obtaining tickets online resulting in ticket racketeering on the Abuja-Kaduna Train Service (AKTS) in recent times,” NRC said.

He also appealed to the public, especially the passengers, to bear with the NRC, saying that the situation would soon be brought under control.

“Information has reached the management of the NRC on difficulties of passengers in obtaining tickets online resulting in ticket racketeering on the Abuja-Kaduna Train Service (AKTS) in recent times,” NRC said.

“In order to arrest the ugly situation, the management has set up a team headed by the deputy director of ICT to investigate.

“In the meantime, the Managing Director of NRC, Mr Freeborn Okhiria, has directed Mr Mohammed Modibo Ibrahim to report and take over as the Manager of the AKTS with immediate effect.

“The Managing Director also directed the director of operation to increase train service frequencies on the route within the next two weeks.”

On January 22, 2021, the federal government launched the N900 million e-ticketing platform for the online purchase of train tickets on the Abuja-Kaduna service.

NRC said the e-ticketing platform was introduced to reduce the physical contact between passengers and staff of the corporation.

In November, the corporation launched the electronic ticketing platform for the Lagos-Ibadan and Itakpe-Warri train services.

The World Bank has approved three new loan requests totalling $1.57bn in financing for Nigeria.

According to a statement released on Monday, the approval is to support the Federal Government in strengthening human capital through better health for women, children and adolescents.

It added that the approved projects would also help build resilience to the effect of climate change such as floods and drought through improving dams safety and irrigation.

The statement read, “The World Bank has today approved three operations for a total of $1.57bn to support the Government of Nigeria in strengthening human capital through better health for women, children and adolescents and building resilience to the effects of climate change such as floods and droughts through improving dam safety and irrigation.”

The international lender stated that this new financing includes $500m for addressing governance issues that constrain the delivery of education and health, $570m for the Primary Healthcare Provision Strengthening Programme and $500m for the Sustainable Power and Irrigation for Nigeria Project.

“The HOPE-GOV and HOPE-PHC programmes combined will support the Government of Nigeria to improve service delivery in the basic education and primary healthcare sectors which are critical towards improving Nigeria’s human capital outcomes.

“The SPIN project will support improvement of dams’ safety and management of water resources for hydropower and irrigation in selected areas of Nigeria.

“The HOPE-GOV Programme will support Nigeria to address underlying governance weaknesses in the systems and procedures of government in two key human development sectors,” it noted.

The approval, made on September 26, 2024, highlights the World Bank’s commitment to strengthening Nigeria’s human capital and building resilience in the face of climate threats.