The Federal Government of Nigeria has launched a New Visa Policy for the country. This launching was done by President Muhammadu Buhari on Wednesday 4, February 2020 at the State House, Abuja.
According to the President, “the new visa Policy will help improve the business environment and attract Foreign Direct Investment (FDI). It will boost tourism and improve African integration, without compromising national security and territorial integrity.
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This new Visa Policy will advance our goal of building a globally competitive economy, by helping to attract innovation, and specialized skills and knowledge from abroad, to complement locally available ones. With this, we are sending a message to the world that Nigeria is open for business.”
The Minister of Interior, Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola says; “the country’s security would not be compromised by the visa policy, even though it addresses the needs of persons visiting Nigeria.
The new visa policy will be helpful to the Diaspora Nigerians by birth who can now use other passports to visit the country because some countries do not allow dual citizenship.”
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Objective Of The Policy
The objective of the New Visa Policy is to strengthen Nigeria’s position as a key economy in Africa. With this, it will attract Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) into the country’s economy.
It’s designed to support the attainment of the Economic Recovery and Growth Plan (2017 – 2020). Also, it is a pathway to achieve the Security, Economy and Transparency (SET) Agenda of the present Administration.
Buhari disclosed, “earlier in the course of this administration, we introduced the Economic Recovery and Growth Plan (2017-2020) with one of the objectives being to minimise bottlenecks which impede innovation and market-based solutions for building an all-inclusive economy.
The New Visa Policy 2020 is to attract innovation, specialised skills and knowledge from abroad to complement locally available ones.”
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“I therefore commend the document to the international community, foreign and local business entities. We are open for business,” – Buhari
Besides, this policy is in line with the FG’s vision to take 100million Nigerians out of poverty in the next 10 years. It is to strengthen Nigeria’s position as a key economy in Africa, and attract more Foreign Direct Investments (FDIs). This will in turn provide jobs for Nigerians and lift the nation’s teeming population out of poverty.
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Element Of The New Visa Policy 2020
As against the previous policies, there are new elements that comes with the new Nigerian Visa policy.
First, is an increase in the number of visa classes from 6 to 79 to include health, education, tourism, e.t.c. This increase is to ensure that visas efficiently match the purpose of travel. This way, processing and response can be efficiently done.
Commenting on the increase, the Minister of Interior, Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola said the reason for the increase is simple. “We want to be very detailed in the classification of people who we have to bring into our country, that is the number one consideration.
Secondly, it is to expand our economy. Let me give you an example; I won’t mention the name. A university wrote me as the minister to request a specific number of visa allocation so as to enhance the number of students coming to that institution.”
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Moving further, the Comptroller General of the Nigerian Immigration Service (NIS), Muhammad Bandede made a technical presentation. He listed the categories and assured the nation that the issue of corruption or bribery would be controlled by the automated system. Also, he announced the technological hub, Migrants Information and Data Analysis (MIDAS) – a way to ensure strict compliance with the conditions for the issuance of the visa.
“The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), National Intelligence Agency (NIA) and the Interpol also made inputs into the system and would be carried along in the processing before approval. The new policy now has a biometric visa system that links and retrieve all visas issued to the biometric details of the visa recipients.” Bandede
In addition, the policy prioritizes technology and automation to guarantee improved security. Also, this will improve transparency and tackle corruption by reducing human contact.
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