The Federal Government has announced plans to review Nigeria’s Visa Policy, with a view to opening up the country to more foreign direct investments. Promising to strike a delicate balance between national security and ensuring ease of doing business, Minister of Interior, Dr Olubunmi Tunji-Ojo regretted that less than two million persons came into the country last year. Dr Tunji-Ojo said this in Abuja at a stakeholders consultative meeting on Nigeria’s Visa Policy. According to him, there is no reason why people seeking tourism or short stay visas should be delayed beyond 72 hours. He said “I have seen people across all strata giving me a call just to demand for favours for approval of visas and I don’t think that should be so. These are basic things that we should simplify. Coming to Nigeria for tourism is good. This is a beautiful country, the greatest black nation on earth. We have the cultural attractions and good investment climate.
“We think if we put in all efforts in terms of investments, bringing people to invest in Nigeria and we make it impossible for them to have simple access, then it becomes a problem. So, if we want to grow as a country, we must remove the bottlenecks and this is the reason why the Ministry of Interior decided that the time to act is now. We understand that yes, Visa, entry permit is the responsibility of the Nigeria Immigration Service as stated in the NIS Act 2015 but we cannot work in isolation. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs is a critical partner. Our vision must align for us to get the results that we want to get. Ministry of Industry, Trade and Investments is key to what we are doing. These investors must have access to be able to invest in the country. The PEBEC is also important in this regard. So, we are meeting to look at our Visa categories and look at other countries that are doing fantastically well, countries that have doubled their GDPs and per capita income. Our population is increasing and the least we can do for the coming generation is to make sure we simplify the investment climate and access to our country without compromising national security. We need the world to see the beauty in Nigeria but nobody wants to struggle to go and spend his own money.
“We want to ensure that in the next couple of weeks, the implementation framework will be on ground and people all over the world will have better access to Nigeria. We want to welcome investors. We want to welcome visitors. We are not comfortable that just last year, the number of foreign passengers that came to Nigeria, either Nigerians or non-Nigerians was just less than two million people. That is unacceptable for a country of over 200 million people. It means that we are limiting investments and influx of Forex. We believe that once we get the visa policy right and we get the implementation framework perfectly right, then definitely, economic prosperity will come, job creation will come, tourism will boom, hotels will get booked more and there will be more money in circulation and at the end of the day, we will do this without compromising our national security. We can even make our Visa implementation framework more efficient and more secured using technology rather than the current analogue system that we have. The vetting process of our Visa application. This is 2024 not 1984. Technology has to play a major role and there must be synergy among all partners. We must identify the role of all stakeholders and automate the process so that we can have realtime solutions to realtime problems. You cannot be proferring analogue solutions to digital problems and expect to have good results.
“Also, the way we manage irregular migrants is something we must talk about. It is key in terns of what we aim to achieve. For people coming for tourism, short stay visas, I see no reason why somebody has to stay for over 72 hours before getting the Nigerian visa. There is technology and the essence of that is to enhance efficiency. We will balance effective access and national security. If we get it right, it will lead to investment promotion because access to Nigeria is key to job creation, foreign direct investments and others”. On Visa policy reciprocity, he said; “Definitely, we will strike that balance. Nigeria is the biggest black nation on earth and a powerful country and it is part of what we are looking at, that is, how to strike that balance without losing the economic value that comes with it. We will be mindful of treaties and protocols and all other technical issues that may arise”
