The Nigeria Immigration Service says it has enrolled a cumulative 14,312 Nigerians in its ongoing special passport intervention exercise in the United Kingdom as the exercise entered its 36th day on Wednesday, with 404 new applicants processed across four cities.
Data from the NIS spokesman, Deputy Comptroller of Immigration Akinsola Akinlabi, obtained by The PUNCH on Thursday, shows that daily passport production and dispatch are running concurrently with registrations on the ground.
“A total of 404 applicants were enrolled across all the centres,” Akinlabi wrote in the Day-35 update, adding that “Cumulative Enrolment: 14,312 applicants. Passport production and dispatch continue unhindered. The exercise remains orderly and well managed.”
The 404 applicants processed on Wednesday were spread across the four centres.
They include Manchester with 157 enrolments; London recorded 88; Aberdeen processed 83; and Cardiff enrolled 74 applicants.
The intervention exercise recorded 1,477 Nigerians enrolled within its first four days of operation, spread across the initial London and Manchester centres alone.
“Within the first four days of the exercise, a total of 1,477 Nigerians have been successfully processed and enrolled.
“Over half of those enrolled have already had their passports produced and dispatched to their respective addresses,” the NIS said in an update on September 11, 2026.
In another update on September 21, enrolments in the UK rose to 5,099 even as the exercise progressed.
On October 3, the Minister of Interior, Dr Olubunmi Tunji-Ojo, approved a first extension before ordering a second extension, which added the Aberdeen and Cardiff centres to the existing intervention centres in London and Manchester.
“In view of the high turnout and sustained demand by Nigerians for the Special Passport Intervention Exercise in the United Kingdom, the Nigeria Immigration Service, acting on the directive of the Honourable Minister of Interior, Dr Olubunmi Tunji-Ojo, has extended the exercise to run from 6th to 30th October, 2026,” the service stated in a statement announcing the extension.
The four active centres are 56-57 Fleet Street, Temple, London EC4Y 1JU; Nigerian House, 23 Platt Lane, Manchester M14 5NE; Hilton Convention Centre, 13 Smithfield Road, Aberdeen AB24 4NR; and Cardiff.
In its notice announcing the intervention on September 7, 2026, the NIS said applicants were required to book appointments via the NIS JotForm portal or the Nigerian High Commission website, and must present a completed application form, payment slips, an intervention appointment print-out, a self-addressed return envelope, and renewals of their current passport.
The applicable fees, it said, are $162 for a five-year booklet and $242 for a 10-year booklet, with only non-cash payments accepted at the centres.
The NIS said it was also running passport intervention programmes spanning four countries.
In the United States, 535 Nigerians were enrolled across Chicago, Michigan, and Milwaukee between September 7 and 15; in Canada, it recorded 2,257 enrolments across Manitoba, Toronto, Saskatoon, Alberta, and New Brunswick between September 6 and 19; and in Qatar, it enrolled 751 applicants between August 9 and 24.
Across all four countries, the NIS has processed over 17,404 diaspora passport applications in about two months.
“The exercises aimed to bring passport services closer to Nigerians across various cities, and were conducted in collaboration with Nigerian diplomatic missions and representatives of Nigerian communities,” Akinlabi stated.
The UK intervention follows years of backlogs and complaints from Nigerians in the diaspora over difficulties obtaining and renewing passports through the Nigerian High Commission in London.
The challenges, compounded by rising demand from Nigeria’s large United Kingdom community estimated at over one million persons, led to protracted waiting times and, in many cases, Nigerians holding expired travel documents.
The programme was first announced on August 9 via a circular from the Comptroller-General of Immigration, Mrs Kemi Nandap, which deployed a team to travel to the United Kingdom on August 10 to work alongside the High Commission.
The exercise was initially designed for pending applications, new applicants, and renewals with less than one year to expiry.
According to Nandap, applicants who could not secure appointment slots, or who preferred not to visit a centre, could use the NIS Contactless Passport Application System, which the service said was fully operational throughout the exercise, scheduled to run until October 30, 2026.