Yuletide: FG to allow Nigerians with expired passports return home

The Federal Government has directed that Nigerians with expired passports planning to return to the country to celebrate the yuletide be allowed without any obstruction.

In a letter dated 22nd December 2023 by the Comptroller General of the Nigeria Immigration Service, NIS, Wura-Ola Adepoju, to the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Yusuf Tuggar, through the Office of Assistant Comptroller General, Border Management, the NIS demanded that Nigerians “be admitted into the country with their expired Nigerian passports.”

“l am directed to refer to the above subject matter and to inform you that the Federal Government of Nigeria in its efforts to make life easy for Nigerians in the diaspora, has approved that all Nigerians returning home can be admitted into the country with their expired Nigerian passports.

“I am further directed to inform airlines coming to Nigeria to allow holders of Nigerian expired passports to board without let.”

However, the media aide to the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Alkasim Abdulkadir, could not confirm the receipt of the letter, saying that he was not in the office.

When this report was filed, the NIS spokesperson, Dotun Aridegbe, could not be reached to confirm the letter’s authenticity.

However, a reliable source at the NIS who pleaded anonymity confirmed that the policy was not new as the Federal Government did the same last year.