Every Nigerian has some level of distrust when engaging services provided by public/government agencies and offices, like getting a Nigerian passport. This distrust is not unfounded, it is usually a result of either previous personal experience or tales from other people’s experiences.
Given this background, I shouldn’t have been surprised when a couple of friends expressed shock and portended the process of my self-application process for a Nigerian passport renewal ending in tears and frustrations. My personal experiences also made me a bit wary but knowing that someone had gone before me helped keep me calm. So I decided to share my experience with someone else who may need guidance.
This post is about passport RENEWAL and not for a fresh passport application. I think the process should be similar for a fresh passport but with some minor tweaks.
The self-processing method of my passport application process was a 4-step one. You can read the first step, online application, and cost summary here.
Total Time Spent
The entire process took about 26 days from the day I filled out an online application form to my final pick-up date. Within this period, I spent a cumulative of 3 hours at the passport office for my form submission, data capturing and passport pick up.
- Application Submission (1 hour):
After filling the application online and paying, I was given a date to visit my selected office for application submission. For the application submission, some extra documents are required which I have listed below.
- 2 passport photographs
- The online Application form
- Photocopy of passport data page
- Photocopy of passport back page
- Passport payment acknowledgement slip
- Evidence of payment
- Photocopy of NIN slip or National ID card
- An application letter for renewal. This letter should be written in an official format and addressed to the head of the office you are using. Eg. ‘The Passport Control Officer’, Alausa passport office, Ikeja. The letter should include – NIN, phone number, old passport number with its expiry date, passport-type requested (booklet number and duration, eg 32-pages for 5 years), along with a list of all the attachments provided (the documents listed above). This information would be provided at the office as well. I didn’t know the details of the letter prior to my visit.
- You have to go along with your old passport
On the day of my application submission, I got to the passport office by 8 am. I planned to get there earlier but I somehow didn’t. Many other applicants were seated in the provided spaces. After waiting for about 20 minutes with nothing happening, I decided to step out briefly to get something to eat. I got back by 9 am and noticed that the officers had started attending to people so I went straight into the building to make enquiries. I was directed to the self-processing area to be attended to by the designated officer. There were many people around but we were just 3 in the self-processing area at the time of my visit.
We were given about 3 forms to fill. We had to make copies of the form prior to filling them (possibly a means of cutting the office’s photocopying costs). The forms asked for the exact details requested online. I wondered why we had to fill the same things all over again but I filled it all without questioning. After the forms were filled, the officer attending to us opened a file and put in all the documents. I took this to another office where a senior officer looked through the documents, signed off some things, and then told me to come back for the data capture in a week’s time (another 7 days).
The submission process itself took about 1 hour. This was because I wrote my letter there, had to make photocopies and then fill the multiple forms. It may have been shorter if I had my letter and all photocopies ready prior to visiting the office. Adding my wait time before office activities started plus the time spent eating would make it 2 hours.
It would have been great to have the data capture on the same day but they probably have their reasons for putting it on a different day. A possible improvement would be to fill the online form and then your first physical visit would be for the data capture. I guess we would get there.
- Data Capture (1 hour 30 mins):
I went back for my data capture on my appointment date (& days after submission). I got there around 8 as well but office activities didn’t start till about some minutes to 9 am.
There are certain things to note when going for the data capture:
- Have an acceptable Nigerian hairstyle on. For men, this may be a low cut. I don’t know much about issues with dreads but I have heard of females having to wear wigs to cover their dreads. For ladies, have a simple hairstyle on, preferably one that doesn’t cover your forehead like a fringe.
- The background of the Alausa Office Capturing wall is white so you shouldn’t wear white clothes to the office. A guy on a white shirt during my capturing process was given a black scarf to cover his white.
- Have your old passport and all other documents.
The data capture itself is a fast process taking about 5 minutes but depending on the number of people waiting and network, time spent there would differ. I was number 3 on the line but the network was down so I had to wait about 20 minutes.
When I eventually got to the capturing room, the officer said my file had not been ‘enrolled’. I had a slight panic here because I wondered if my self-processing method was the reason for that. I was sent back to the officer that filed me where I had to wait an extra 20 minutes. I later found out that it was an oversight and not because of the self-processing.
The enrollment process took another 10 to 15 minutes after which I was ‘captured’. At this point, I had to review my details on the portal at the office again to confirm all that was written. I was then given a data capture slip with a date for my pickup – 9 days after the capture. So I spent about 1 hour 30 minutes at the office on this day.
You can view the progress of your application here. I forgot about this while waiting and didn’t check to see if it worked.
- Passport Pick up (30 minutes):
My pickup date was 9 days after my capturing. I didn’t go early on this day as I had some things to attend to. I got to the passport office by 2.45 pm. I took along my old passport and the slip given on the data capture day which I submitted this upon entering the pickup section of the office. I waited about 20 minutes before my name was called out with some others.
After that, we had to go to another office as the network was down where we were. At the new office, I was the 3rd person once again and in another 10 minutes, I was called in. I had to show my old passport which was stamped to show that it was no longer eligible and I was given the new one (I collected the old one back as well). And thus ended my process. This pickup process was the fastest part and it took about 30 minutes.
Staff Attitude
The overall attitude of the staff at the office was courteous. There were some responses I believe could have been better or some explanations better detailed but those were few and far between, made up for by the other officers.
Overall, it was a good experience for me as I wanted to explore using a Nigerian service with no ‘fast-tracker’.
I now have a valid passport with many pages waiting to be stamped. I am currently open to sponsored trips so if you have a plug, or are willing to sponsor my travel dreams, lemme know! 😀
ps: There is almost always a shortage of passport booklets, especially the 32-page booklet. Because of this, I decided to go for the 64-page, even though the cost was slightly higher.
