The Federal Government has begun a fresh review of Nigeria’s Visa Policy to identify areas of improvement and chart a course towards greater efficiency, transparency and fairness in the nation’s visa system.
Minister of Interior, Dr. Olubunmi Tunji-Ojo, disclosed this at a one-day Stakeholders Consultative Forum on Nigeria Visa Policy in Abuja, yesterday.
He said that access to any country is a very delicate matter; therefore Nigeria must continue to review its Visa Policy to ensure balance of access and national security.
“If we get it right and we are able to strike that delicate balance, then it will lead to investment promotion because visa and access to Nigeria is key to investment creation, job creation and foreign direct investment.
“We want to be able to streamline the process especially in the area of our Short Stay Visas and other categories of visas to see how we can optimise and make them more efficient in such a way that we will be able to track the best of investment and open our space for tourism and infrastructural development,” the minister said.
He said Nigeria as the most populous black nation on earth is working on strategies to strike a balance without losing any economic value that comes with it; hence, “in the next couple of weeks, this new implementation framework will be on ground and people all over the world will have better access to Nigeria.”
The minister added: “It’s one thing to have a policy and another to implement it effectively by understanding what is the implementation framework, what role technology has to play and how long does somebody need to wait to get a Short Stay Visa, Business Visa, Tourism Visa and Entertainment Visa as well as ease to the application mechanism.
“We want to welcome visitors into Nigeria. We are not comfortable that last year the number of foreign passengers that visited Nigeria was just less than two million; that is not acceptable.”
Permanent Secretary of the ministry, Aishetu Gogo-Ndayako, pointed that the meeting provides a valuable opportunity to reflect on the current state of the Nigeria Visa Policy and identify areas of improvement
“The Nigeria Immigration Service (NIS) is the implementor of the Nigeria Visa Policy. Our shared goal is to ensure that the policy aligns with the evolving nature of the society, economy and global landscape,” Gogo-Ndayako said.
Speaking on the importance of ease of doing business through access to Visa, Comptroller General, NIS, Kemi Nandap, observed that the review team was pruning the country’s visa processes to make sure that Nigerians and foreigners come into the country in an easier way.
Also speaking, Permanent Secretary, Federal Ministry of Trade and Investment, Ambassador Nuru Abba-Rimi, said that Nigeria has one of the best visa policies in the world but there is always room for improvement.
