Very little information on the procedure to obtain a passport while in Nigeria could be found among the sources consulted by the Research Directorate. However, in a 30 November 1997 report, the Lagos-based Post Express identified a number of documents to be submitted with one's passport application form. These include an age declaration; a guarantor's form; a letter of introduction from one's employer or local government; and a bank draft (ibid.).

In a separate article, the Post Express reported that the Nigerian Immigration Service (NIS) would begin to issue new, more secure passports on 1 January 1998 (ibid. 11 Dec. 1997). According to the Post Express, citing the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), a fault of the old passport was that individuals "could easily remove the photograph of the real owner and super-impose theirs and use the document to commit crimes abroad" (ibid.). In a 3 December 1999 report by the Post Express, Sunday Afolabi, the Minister of Internal Affairs stated that "one of the unique features of the new passport is that the prospective applicant must be physically present, thereby eliminating issuance by proxy." The report further stated that the new passports were being issued at the NIS' zonal headquarters: Abuja, Owerri, Minna, Kaduna, Lagos, Bauchi and Ibadan (ibid.).

According to Country Reports 1998, female passport applicants are often required in practice "to obtain permission from a male family member before having an application for a passport processed" (1999, Section 2).

In a 21 April 1999 report, NigeriaWorld stated that

obtaining a travel document like a passport in a reasonable amount of time in Nigeria without bribing the passport office officials is quite impossible. In fact, it is a mirage of the 10th power. Some of the road blocks a prospective traveller would encounter unwilling to 'settle' with the corrupt officials is the familiar line from the officials such as, "we are out of passport forms", or "come back tomorrow". As a consequence of this kind of practice, anyone with a criminal record or a foreign national can easily obtain Nigerian passport without adequate clearance provided the individual is quite willing to 'settle'. This kind and level of compromise by our paid so-called government officials at the passport offices all over the country is deleterious to the health and stability of the country. One does not obtain Nigerian passport except if you are the head of state or some minister because one is qualified to obtain it, rather, one gets a passport because you will give the amount of bribe demanded.

No information on whether exit permits are required to leave Nigeria could be found among the sources consulted by the Research Directorate.

This Response was prepared after researching publicly accessible information currently available to the Research Directorate within time constraints. This Response is not, and does not purport to be, conclusive as to the merit of any particular claim to refugee status or asylum. Please find below the list of additional sources consulted in researching this Information Request.

References

Country Reports on Human Rights Practices for 1998. 1999. United States Department of State. Washington, DC: United States Government Printing Office. http://www.state.gov/www/global/human_rights/1998_hrp_report/nigeria.html [Accessed 5 Jan. 2000]

NigeriaWorld. 21 April 1999. Anthony Ololo. "The Pandemic of Bribery in Nigeria." http://nigeriaworld.com [Accessed 10 Dec. 1999]

Post Express [Lagos]. 12 December 1999. "Immigration Service Issues 282,655 Machine-Readable Passports." http://www.postexpresswired.com [Accessed 10 Dec. 1999]

_____. 12 December 1997. "NIS to Introduce New Passport Booklets in January." http://www.postexpresswired.com [Accessed 7 Jan. 2000]

_____. 30 November 1997. "Passport Offices Stopped From Collecting File Jackets from Applicants." http://www.postexpresswired.com [Accessed 7 Jan. 2000]

Additional Sources Consulted

Foreign Affairs Manual. July 1998 Release. United States Department of State. Freedom of Information Act. Electronic Reading Room. http://foia.state.gov/Famdir/index.html [Accessed 10 Dec. 1999]

IRB databases.

LEXIS-NEXIS.

Post Express [Lagos]. Jan. 1998-Nov. 1999.

Vanguard [Lagos]. Nov. 1999-Dec. 1999.

Travel Information Manual (TIM) [Hoofddorp, The Netherlands]. Dec. 1999.

World News Connection (WNC)

Unsuccessful attempts to contact four oral sources.

Internet sites including:

Consulate General of Nigeria in Atlanta.

Consulate General of Nigeria in New York.

Nigeria Media Monitor.

Nigeria News Network.

Nigeria Nexus.

Nigerian High Commission in Ottawa.

Nigerian Scholars for Dialogue.

NigeriaWeb.