A name change is not one bill. It is several small ones, spread across different offices.
The court affidavit itself
The government charge for swearing the affidavit is a small stamp duty. Each court sets its own figure for a standard one-page statement.
It is often the part people worry about most, even though neither this figure nor the newspaper notice is published nationally, so neither can be ranked against the other with confidence.
The newspaper notice
Newspapers set their own rate for a change of name notice, and that rate is not published by any of the agencies involved.
Ask the newspaper directly before you commit to a specific title, since rates can differ between publications.
Updating your NIN
NIMC charges ₦2,000 for this kind of change on its self-service portal.
See changing your surname on your NIN after marriage for the full steps, which apply whether the change follows marriage, divorce or a correction.
Updating your passport if you need to
If your passport also needs to show the new name, immigration's charge for a correction of data is ₦30,000.
That figure is separate from a routine renewal fee. Confirm the full total on the portal, since the correction charge may sit alongside other booklet fees rather than replace them.
What the total picture looks like
Add these up and the real cost of a name change is rarely just one number. It depends on how many agencies your documents touch, and whether a passport correction is one of them.
Skipping a step you do not currently need, such as the passport, keeps the total down until you actually need that document to match.
Spreading the cost over time
Nothing requires you to pay every fee in the same week. Updating your NIN first, then your passport only once you actually need it, spreads the total out.
That approach also gives you time to check each figure again before you pay, rather than budgeting from memory.
Common mistakes
- Assuming one fee covers the whole process, when each agency charges separately.
- Paying a facilitator a lump sum with no breakdown of what is a government charge and what is a markup.
- Forgetting the newspaper notice has its own cost, separate from every agency fee.
- Correcting a passport before checking whether a routine renewal was actually the cheaper, more appropriate route.
- Budgeting from an old figure seen online instead of checking the current one before you pay.
- Paying two agencies for the same correction when only one of your documents actually needed it.
- Assuming a facilitator's all-in price is cheaper, without ever seeing which part of it is the real government charge.
For the affidavit step itself and the rest of this series, see our affidavit guides, including the order to update your documents after a name change.