3-4 minutes
President Muhammadu Buhari Tuesday in Abuja explained that the new
Nigeria Visa Policy 2020 aims at attracting innovation, specialized
skills and knowledge from abroad to complement local capacity.
He stated during the official public presentation of the Nigeria Visa Policy (NVP) 2020, in Abuja on Tuesday.
The President said, “The implementation of the Nigeria Visa Policy 2020
will support the attainment of a globally competitive economy for
Nigeria by building on the efforts of the Presidential Enabling Business
Environment Council.’’
President Buhari said the policy will improve the business environment,
attract Foreign Direct Investment and boost tourism without compromising
national security.
“Earlier in the course of this Administration, we introduced the
Economic Recovery and Growth Plan (2017-2020) with one of the objectives
being to minimize bottlenecks that impede innovation and market-based
solutions for building an inclusive economy.
“The Nigeria Visa Policy 2020 is intended to attract innovation,
specialized skills and knowledge from abroad to complement locally
available ones,’’ he added.
The President also noted that the Nigeria Visa Policy 2020 provides an
avenue to achieve African integration by the introduction of visas on
arrival for short visits to Nigeria for holders of passports of African
Union countries.
“I, therefore, commend the document to the international community,
foreign and local business entities. We are open for business,’’ he
said.
In his remarks, the Minister of Interior, Ogbeni Rauf Adesoji
Aregbesola, said the visa policy took into consideration the specific
needs of foreigners who would want to visit the country, without
compromising the security of the country.
The minister said the policy had followed a process that considered the
security, economy and territorial integrity of the country, and would
only be issued after due diligence with other security components of the
country.
“Especially, the new visa policy will be helpful to diaspora Nigerians
by birth who can now use other passports to visit the country because
some countries do not allow dual citizenship,’’ he added.
In a technical presentation, the Comptroller General of the Nigeria
Immigration Service (NIS), Muhammad Babandede, said the service had
already put in place a technological hub, called the Migrants
Information and Data Analysis (MIDAS), to ensure strict compliance with
the conditions for the issuance of the visa.
Babandede assured that issues of corruption or bribery will be
controlled by the automated system while allaying fears of possible
infiltration of the economy by criminals and terrorists.
He said the new policy has 79 categories, which include health,
education, tourism etc, pointing out that the Economic and Financial
Crimes Commission, National Intelligence Agency (NIA) and the Interpol
also made inputs into the system, and would be carried along in the
processing before approvals.
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The new Nigeria visa policy will create a way for the visa on arrival that was introduced earlier this year. This will be great start for the tourism of the country.
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