Payment for a police character certificate has one rule worth remembering above all others: it happens on POSSAP, not at a police counter.
The payment rule, as the police state it
The police describe payment as online through the POSSAP invoice only. Each request attracts a one-time, non-refundable fee, generated as an invoice once you complete the form on possap.gov.ng.
Nothing about this rule changes based on who you are or where in Nigeria you apply from.
What the fee is reported to be
Multiple sources, including a civic guide and Pulse Nigeria, put the fee at ₦30,000. This site could not find a police page stating the amount directly, and older reporting has quoted other figures for the same certificate.
Treat any number you see, including the one in this article, as a reported figure rather than an official price list. The amount shown on your own POSSAP invoice is the one that counts.
Why you should not pay at a police formation
The police guidance is direct on this point: you should pay nothing extra at a police formation, whether for your fingerprint capture or for collecting the finished certificate. Every legitimate charge for the certificate itself runs through the POSSAP invoice.
A request for cash at a station, or a separate "facilitation" payment from anyone claiming to speed up your file, sits outside that rule.
If you use a filing service
A filing service charges its own fee for handling your paperwork, on top of the government fee POSSAP invoices. On Docufy, the government fee, the service fee and VAT on the service fee are shown as separate lines before you pay, with no markup added to the government figure. You see the total on the police character certificate page before committing to anything.
What a failed or disputed payment means
If a payment does not go through, or you are unsure whether it registered, the safer step is checking directly on POSSAP rather than paying again from memory. Since the fee is described as non-refundable, avoid submitting a second payment before confirming the first one failed.
A bank or card decline is a routine technical issue. A payment that leaves your account but never shows as received on POSSAP is a different, rarer problem, and is worth raising with your bank for a transaction reference before you try a second route.
Common payment mistakes
- Paying a "settlement" figure to a fixer. No published rule supports this, and it sits outside the POSSAP invoice entirely.
- Assuming the reported ₦30,000 figure is fixed. Confirm it on your own invoice, since reported amounts vary.
- Losing your payment reference. Keep proof of what you paid and when, in case a step later needs confirming.
For the steps that come before and after payment, see applying for a police character certificate on POSSAP and which ID you will need. Our full guide to cost and process covers the certificate end to end.