Nigerian Passport Applicants, Agents Stranded As New Immigration Payment Platform ‘Saana Pay’ With Alleged Links To Top Officials Traps Millions

There is growing outrage among Nigerians and business operators processing passport applications after the Nigeria Immigration Service (NIS) abruptly replaced its former payment system, known as TeasyPay, with a controversial new platform, Saana Pay.

Multiple sources who spoke to SaharaReporters said the new payment method has left millions of naira trapped in digital wallets, while frustrated applicants and agents are left without any way to complete passport transactions or retrieve their funds.

“I work as a downloader at the Immigration office. What we do in essence is that we help in making payments for passport applications and the likes,” one affected agent told SaharaReporters.

“Initially, we had a platform we used for our payments called TeasyPay. But recently, TeasyPay was removed from the Nigerian Immigration website. Saana Pay was now added, and we were forced to use it. While making a payment, you’re required to open a wallet address with them. So we all opened wallets and funded them to make payments.

“But for over two weeks now, we’ve funded the wallet on Saana Pay, but can’t use it to make any payment. Worse, we can’t even withdraw our money. The funds are just hanging, and we’re stranded. Those Nigerians who come to our business centres to process passports are the worst hit.”

“We explain that the money is stuck on the platform and we can’t process anything. Now people are even threatening to arrest us. It’s quite unfortunate,” the agent added.

Another agent said, “Personally, I have over N500,000 trapped. I can’t withdraw it, I can’t make payments. I had to borrow money to refund some of the applicants.

“Another issue is that Saana Pay only allows transfer payments, and even that is hanging. I did one yesterday (Wednesday)—it’s stuck. For two weeks now, customer service hasn’t responded. The only response I got was that it’s an issue with NIS and that we should contact Immigration.”

SaharaReporters also gathered from a source in the Ministry of Interior that some top government officials may have links to the company operating Saana Pay.

“We gathered that top people in the Interior Ministry under Olubunmi Tunji-Ojo’s leadership are part of the founders of Saana Pay, have a stake in the company or that some Immigration officers and top ministry officials are close to those who own the platform. That’s why TCP was removed. They brought in Saana Pay because they’re connected to the owners,” the source said.

When contacted, the spokesperson for the Nigeria Immigration Service, Akinsola Akinlabi, confirmed that the agency was aware of the ongoing issues.

“Yes, the Service is aware of this and working round the clock to resolve it. As we speak, the technical team is working on the issue to make sure the payment system works seamlessly for all users,” he told SaharaReporters.

Akinlabi, however, denied any connection between the ministry and NIS officials and the operators of the Saana Pay platform.

“The claim that top officers in the Service and the ministry brought Saana Pay because of their connection with the ownership of the platform is not true,” he added.

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