NIS Projected Passport Revenue Drops By 96% – Report

The Nigeria Immigration Service (NIS’) projected passport revenue from N27.18bn for 2021 to N1.03bn for 2022 has dropped by 96 per cent.

This was disclosed by the analysis of the proposed budgets of government-owned enterprises. While N24.43bn was proposed as passport revenue, N2.75bn was proposed as e-pass revenue for 2021.

For 2022, N1.03bn was proposed as passport revenue, and N201.81m was proposed as e-pass revenue.

In total, the NIS decreased its projected revenue from the issuance of passport and e-pass by N26.15bn. This represents about 96.2 per cent decrease in the projected revenue.

This is despite the tight revenue crunch the country seems to be battling with, which has led to an increasing debt profile.

Recall, the Minister of Finance, Budget and National Planning, Zainab Ahmed, had on several occasions said the country had a revenue problem and not a debt problem.

Various economic experts have urged the government to find ways to boost its revenue base and not depend on borrowings, with the increasing debt stock of the country.

Nigeria currently struggles with an economic crisis brought upon by the fall in oil prices and the COVID-19 pandemic, which has led to deteriorating revenue, increasing unemployment, inflation and poverty.