Chinedu Eze
Travel experts, Immigration and other Nigerians have thumbed down on the plan by the federal government to scrap visa on arrival policy, saying that the decision is ill-conceived and urged the Minister of Interior, Dr. Olubunmi Tunji-Ojo to withdraw the decision and do more consulting in order to take a better decision that will benefit the country.
The experts who spoke to THISDAY said that for the first time, Nigeria took a better decision on how to attract investors and tourists who bring in hard currency into the country, but instead of improving the process, the federal government announced that it wants to scrap the policy in April, noting that so far, it has not been reported that the system has been compromised in terms of insecurity.
The minister was recently quoted as saying that government would discontinue its visa on arrival policy and described it as unsuitable and a potential security risk.
“We believe that it is better for us to make decisions based on objectivity rather than subjectivity. Of course, that will lead to the cancellation of the visa-on-arrival process because visa-on-arrival, we understand, is not a system that works. I don’t expect you to just come to my country without me knowing you’re coming in. No, it’s never done anywhere.
“What we are looking at is that for any decision that borders on immigration into Nigeria, it will be impossible for approvals to be given without the clearance of Interpol, criminal record system and all background checking agencies in real-time. We have to ensure this.
“When it comes to security, life will never remember us for the 99 per cent we get it right. History will remember us for the 1 per cent we do wrong. And security is not a sector where you can afford to be 99.9 per cent accurate. It just has to be 100 per cent,” the minister said.
Tunji-Ojo said government would plan to replace the current visa on arrival system by April 1, 2025, with stricter processes that include pre-arrival clearance and more rigorous screening, ensuring better tracking of travellers and safeguarding Nigeria’s borders.
“So, we are going to bring these massive reforms, and these reforms start between March 1 and April. What we’re trying to do is to be able to safeguard our people. It is for us to be responsible in the comity of nations and to be able to contribute our fair quota to all our foreign international partners,” he stated.
The minister also said the new policy that would be introduced by the current administration would be far-reaching and all-encompassing with technological innovations as its backbone.
He said: “Today, I presided over a meeting on Nigeria’s new visa policy, the Nigeria Visa Policy 2025 (NVP 2025), alongside the Comptroller-General of Immigration, Kemi Nanna Nandap. The proposed visa policy aims to enhance the ease of doing business, boost tourism, and strengthen bilateral and multilateral relations with other countries,” Tunji-Ojo said.
Reviewing the minister’s decision to scrap the visa on arrival policy, experts said the minister’s decision could be encapsulated in one sentence, which is, “What we have now is not secure enough. We want a more secure system.”
They faulted the minister when he spoke about not having enough information from visa on arrival applicants, saying that no applicant who sought visa through that system that was not thoroughly scrutinized by getting all necessary information from him and subjecting him to detailed security checks.
A recently retired senior immigration officer told THISDAY on Wednesday in a telephone interview that visa on arrival, which took off in 2016 under the Mohammadu Buhari’s administration, was a significant milestone in advancing the process of visa issuance within a short time in line with what the rest of the world was doing and also easier but firm way of responding to the request of thousands of foreigners that wanted to come to Nigeria to do business or to visit as tourists.
He also disclosed that before visa on arrival policy was adopted and implemented, a committee made up of officials from the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO), Immigration and Department of State Security (DSS) was set up, which scrutinized the process before accepting it and recommending it to government.
“The decision of the federal government to scrap the visa on arrival policy will set Nigeria backwards by 10 years. Our visa process was one of the most cherished in the world and you now want to throw it out. The committee that subjected the process to scrutiny before it was adopted in 2016, made comparison with other nations and looked at the possible weaknesses, which has to do with security and closed the possible gaps.
“For example, we get all the necessary information from you and subject the information to scrutiny. Mind you, the Nigeria Immigration Service (NIS) receives the suspect index before DSS. The applicant is subjected to the suspect index and when the applicant is cleared, we get no local objection signal before we give you visa. So, using security as excuse for scrapping visa on arrival policy is untenable,” he said.
Also, reacting to the decision of government to scrap the visa on arrival policy, travel expert and the organiser of Akwaaba African Travel Market, Ambassador Ikechi Uko, told THISDAY that there may be forces that tend to set Nigeria backwards each time it makes progress and stressed that it would be extremely difficult for Nigeria to process the visa of over a million applicants, who may want to visit the country during detty December, through the conventional process in the embassies.
According to him, it will be difficult if the country wants to grow tourism and foreign investment; adding that Nigeria does not have embassies in all the country; so, visa on arrival becomes the better option.
Ambassador Uko also stated that anyone that applies for Nigerian visa supplies all necessary information needed by government, disclosing that since 2020, applicants that want visa on arrival fill forms online and supply all necessary information; so, it is not lack of information access that is the reason why government wants to scrap the policy.
“Why there is need for government to reconsider its decision is the fact that in terms of insecurity Nigeria is not under any threat. It is not in war with any country and the security threat is not the worst in the world. Since 2020, applicants have been filling forms online for visa on arrival and after filling the forms they wait until it is processed and those who meet all the conditions are given visa. We are not at war with any country, but Rwanda which is fighting war in three fronts, is still issuing visa on arrival. If a million people seek for visa and have to go through the normal process, it won’t work.
“For a country to attract foreign investors and tourists, it must ease the visa process. There must be easy payment; easy process and easy acceptance or rejection within a very short time. In Kenya, the official time is 72 hours but when you apply for their e-visa you get feedback in 48 hours. Benin is visa free; Ghana is visa on arrival. Why are we scrapping what we ought to improve upon? Nigeria is not the least secure country,” Ambassador Uko said.
He also noted that even the United States is being pressured by the tourism industry to reduce the time it takes to respond to visa request and to also relax the process. This is because the country will host the world cup and other major international games and many people from different parts of the world would need to come to the US.
“There must be a trade-off between relaxing your visa process and allowing more people to come into your country and invest or visit and spend money; or the old process, which will keep investors away because our embassies cannot handle the demand,” he said.
