The Nigerian High Commission in the United Kingdom has announced plans to refund £50 to applicants who were charged a £70 administrative fee during the ongoing passport intervention exercise.

Under the new arrangement, affected applicants will retain £20 as the approved administrative charge, while the remaining £50 will be returned to them.

The commission disclosed this in a notice published on its official website on Friday, following complaints from Nigerians in the UK over charges and challenges encountered during the special passport exercise.

The development comes after the Federal Government clarified that no additional fees had been introduced for the intervention programme.

On September 8, the Ministry of Interior said applicants were only expected to pay the prescribed passport fees, apart from applicable bank charges. The Nigeria Immigration Service also reiterated on September 11 that no extra payment was required to participate in the exercise.

Meanwhile, the passport intervention programme has been extended in London and Manchester following a strong turnout.

The exercise, originally scheduled to end on September 19, will now run until October 3 in the two locations.

The Nigeria Immigration Service said 1,477 Nigerians had completed enrolment within the first four days of the exercise, with more than half of the passports already produced and sent out.

The intervention was introduced to help Nigerians in the UK access passport services, but the process has been affected by technical difficulties, particularly at the Manchester centre, where applicants reported delays and uncertainty over the procedures.

The refund of the excess administrative fee is expected to address concerns raised by applicants over the charges.