The 2023 presidential candidate of the Labour Party (LP), Mr Peter Obi has criticised the Federal Government over Thursday’s hike in international passport fees, describing it as another sign of the administration’s “disconnect with the people and their suffering.”
Obi, in a statement posted on his X (formerly Twitter) handle on Thursday, lamented that the new fees for obtaining a Nigerian international passport have “skyrocketed” to ₦100,000 for a 32-page booklet and ₦200,000 for a 64-page booklet.
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The former Anambra State governor noted that Thursday’s increment marked the third of such hike in just two years.
Obi compared the new charges to the recently approved ₦70,000 national minimum wage, arguing that the cost of a single passport now surpasses what an average Nigerian worker earns in a month.
“In a country where the new minimum wage is only ₦70,000, the cost of a single passport now exceeds a worker’s monthly salary, probably the only country in the world to achieve this feat,” he wrote.
He accused the government of consistently imposing financial hardships on its citizens instead of easing their economic burden.
“The obsession of this administration with putting a burden on the populace is becoming legendary and continues to reveal its apparent disconnect with the people and the suffering.
“Instead of making life easier, this government keeps shifting the burden onto ordinary Nigerians. It is alarming that the price of the international passport is higher than what workers earn in a month,” Obi stated.