How to Change the Date of Birth on a Nigerian Passport

A passport date of birth is not just a number on a booklet. It connects to your NIN, your bank records, your tax file, your pension entitlement, your voter card, your retirement age, your eligibility for elective office. Changing it touches every one of those systems, which is why every step in the Nigerian process has a legal backbone.

You cannot start with NIS. The Nigeria Immigration Service does not accept a request to update a passport DOB without a corrected NIN. NIMC does not accept a NIN modification without an NPC document. NPC does not issue a fresh attestation without a High Court affidavit. The chain runs court → NPC → NIMC → NIS, and skipping a step means looping back.

This article walks the chain in order. If you are correcting a typo you caused on a fresh application rather than a long-standing wrong DOB across multiple documents, the much lighter route at date of birth mismatch on passport application is what you want instead.

The end-to-end change process is for cases where your existing official documents are wrong, not where you mistyped a value on a form. Two patterns dominate:

• The original NPC birth registration was wrong. Common for those born in rural areas before registration was universal, or where the person registering the birth confused day and month, or where a literacy gap led to an erroneous entry.
• Multiple older documents agree on a DOB that differs from the NIN and passport. Family records, school admission papers, and church records all show one DOB, but the NIN and passport show another, often because the NIN was rushed through during the NIN-SIM linkage drive without the correct birth document.

It does not apply to:

• A typo you caused on a fresh passport form when your NIN and certificate agree. That is a DOB mismatch, correctable through a NIS support ticket for free.
• A change of birth date for convenience, retirement timing, or other strategic reasons. Nigerian courts will refuse to issue an affidavit purely for these purposes; the affidavit must rest on actual documentary or familial evidence of the correct DOB.

1. 1
   Gather your evidence of the correct DOBSchool records, family Bible or Quran with dated entries, baptism or naming-ceremony records, older NPC certificates if any, statements from older relatives.
2. 2
   Swear a High Court affidavitAt a Federal or State High Court (not a magistrate court). The affidavit is sworn by you, by a parent, or by a sibling at least eight years older. It states full name, date and place of birth, parental details, LGA of birth, and the reason for the correction.
3. 3
   Obtain an NPC documentBorn after 1992: apply for a digitalised NPC birth certificate or correction of an existing one. Born before 1992: apply for an NPC attestation certificate through the standalone attestation portal at attestation.nationalpopulation.gov.ng.
4. 4
   Modify the NIN at NIMCUse the self-service portal at selfservicemodification.nimc.gov.ng. Pay the ₦28,574 non-refundable DOB modification fee. Upload the NPC document and the High Court affidavit. New NIN slip issued, typically within 2 to 6 weeks.
5. 5
   Apply for the passport re-issueOn immigration.gov.ng, choose Re-issue and select the change-of-data reason. Upload the new NIN slip, NPC document, court affidavit, and current passport data page.
6. 6
   Attend the biometric appointmentBring originals of everything plus the current passport. The officer may ask additional questions where the new DOB differs substantially from the old one.
7. 7
   Collect the new passport21-day NIS Service Level Agreement after enrolment. The old passport is cancelled at collection.

A Nigerian High Court affidavit for a DOB change is more substantial than a simple oath. It typically runs to one or two pages and includes:

• Full names of the declarant (you, your parent, or your older sibling).
• The date and place of your birth as you are now declaring it to be.
• Parental details including names, occupations at the time of your birth, and addresses.
• Local government of birth and state of origin.
• A statement of why the original record is incorrect, with reference to the supporting evidence you are using.
• A declaration of truth sworn before a Commissioner for Oaths in the High Court registry.

Fees for sworn affidavits at Nigerian High Courts vary by state and registry but typically run from a few hundred to a few thousand naira. Bring two passport-size photographs and a government-issued ID. For the underlying mechanics see how to swear an affidavit in Nigeria.

The National Population Commission handles the civil-record side. Two sub-routes apply depending on when you were born.

NPC fees are modest — typically a few thousand naira — and the digital certificate is usually issued within one to four weeks depending on the office and method of application. See how to get a Nigerian birth certificate and birth certificate correction for the deeper NPC walkthroughs.

NIMC charges a non-refundable ₦28,574 for DOB modification, compared to ₦2,000 for a name correction. The higher fee reflects additional review.

Submit through the NIMC self-service portal at selfservicemodification.nimc.gov.ng, with:

• The High Court affidavit (original or certified copy).
• The digitalised NPC attestation certificate or birth certificate.
• Your existing NIN slip.
• Any additional supporting evidence (older school records, family documents).

The corrected NIN slip is typically issued within 2 to 6 weeks. For the dedicated NIMC walkthrough see how to change date of birth on NIN.

Once the corrected NIN slip is in your hand, the passport re-issue is straightforward. NIS treats it as a standard re-issue with change-of-data, not a fresh application.

• Fee — ₦100,000 for the 32-page 5-year or ₦200,000 for the 64-page 10-year inside Nigeria, at the standard re-issue rate. Diaspora applicants pay the NIS USD anchor of $150 or $230; consulate booklet fees vary slightly by post, so look up your mission's published rate before paying.
• SLA — 21 days after enrolment from the day of biometric enrolment.
• Documents — the standard re-issue bundle (existing passport, NIN slip, NPC document, LG identification letter, photographs, court affidavit, plus the change-of-data application letter).

The old passport is cancelled at collection. The new booklet shows the corrected DOB and is valid for entry and exit as a normal Nigerian e-passport.

A DOB change that significantly shifts your apparent age can attract additional scrutiny. NIS sometimes asks for one or more of:

• Additional supporting evidence, such as older NPC entries, school admission records dated near the correct DOB, or family documents.
• A second affidavit from a different family member confirming the correct DOB.
• A statement of why the change is being made now, particularly where the change moves you across a statutory eligibility threshold.

The response is to comply openly. Refusing to provide additional evidence reads as a flag. Providing the requested documents promptly resolves most cases.

A new DOB on the passport is only the visible end of a wider update. Several other government records need to follow.

• Bank accounts (BVN) — see BVN date of birth correction.
• Voter card at INEC — handled by INEC's correction procedure.
• Tax records (TIN) — through FIRS modification.
• Driver's licence — FRSC accepts the corrected NIN as the basis for licence updates.
• NYSC certificate, where applicable — see NYSC date of birth correction.
• WAEC and JAMB records, where applicable — separate correction processes; each examining body sets its own rules.

A piecemeal approach leaves you with inconsistencies. Plan to update each affected document within a few months of the passport change, working from the most-used records outward.