The Minister of Interior Dr. Olubunmi Tunji-Ojo has disclosed that the federal government is posied to review the nation’s visa and immigration policy to enable ease of process for apllicants.
Tunji-Ojo made this known at stakeholders’ consultative meeting on Nigeria Visa Policy on Saturday in Abuja, as he lamented the cumbersom nature of the process which involved numerous bottlenecks.
He added that technology would be employed to refine the process and ensure that tourists and foreigners would be attracted, while also ensuring reciprocity.
He noted that individuals visiting the country on short-stay visas for tourism purposes shouldn’t have to wait longer than 72 hours to obtain a Nigerian visa.
He praised all involved parties for dedicating their weekend to essential national duties, recalling that the Ministry was operational even on January 1 to fulfill a national task.
Tunji-Ojo said:
“We sat down and analyse the countries with the highest growth rate in terms of (Gross Domestic Product) GDP and per capita income and realized that these are countries that have revolutionalised their visa and immigration policy. “You look at United Arab Emirates (UAE), Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, and couple of other places. Capital in the world is limited and all the countries in the world are fighting for it. So, you cannot make access to your country too difficult than it should be. “I have seen people from top mighty, the seemingly vulnerable in our society, give me a call just to demand favour to acquire visa. That is not how it should be, I think these are basic things that should be simplified, coming to Nigeria for tourism, this a beautiful country, the biggest black nation on earth, should not be unnecessarily difficult. “This a country with enormous potential. We have the cultural attractions to attract people. We have investment climate that is attractive to any investor in the world and we have all it takes to attract the best of people in the world. “If we spend all efforts in trying to bring people to come and invest in Nigeria and when we make it impossible for them to have simple access, it becomes a problem. If we want to grow as a country, we must demystify the bottlenecks and that is the reason why the Ministry of Interior decided that it is time to act now. We must solve this problem. “We understand that visa entry permit is the responsibility of the Nigeria Immigration Service as stated in NIS Act 2015. But we can’t work in isolation, we can’t work alone, Foreign Affairs are critical partners to what we want to do. Our vision must align for us to get the result that we want to get. “Ministry of Trade and Investment is key for investment promotion, we need to provide access for them come and invest in the country. So, Trade and Investment has a major role to play in this deliberation and of course Presidential Enabling Business Environment Council (PEBEC) was set to actualize the ease of doing business in Nigeria.”
