By Dele Ogbodo
The Federal Government through the Minister of Interior, Dr. Olubunmi Tunji-Ojo, on Saturday at Transcop Hotel in Abuja, said government is ramping up efforts to put in place a new framework for effective implementation of its visa policy to make it attract more Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) and foreigners into the country without compromising national security.
Speaking at the sideline at a stakeholders’ consultative forum, organized by the Ministry of Interior in conjunction with the Ministries of Foreign Affairs and Trade and Investment, Tunji-Ojo, said federal government is poised and more determined to make sure that in the next couple of weeks and by the grace of God a new implementation framework will be on the ground running.
The new and friendly framework, he added convincingly will attract more people from all over the world and will have better access to Nigeria than it used to be.
Asked on the imperative of the new visa policy for Nigeria? He said: “It is extremely important and like I said earlier at the opening remark…having access to a country is everything, however you have to be able to balance effective passport and national security and so it will be a good and delicate balance.
“If we get it right, which I’m determined to do and we are able to strike that delicate balance it will lead to invest promotion just like the Ministries of Trade and Investment and Foreign Affairs are here, because access to Nigeria is key to investment promotion and likewise it is key for job creation and foreign direct investment.”
According to Tunji-Ojo, this is key to everything that we want to do at the Ministry, because everything that we want to do is built on the foundation of effective visa administration.
He said the stakeholders at the end of the day will streamline the process especially in the areas of short stay visas and in other categories of visas to see how it can be optimized to make it more efficient in a such way, adding, that: “We can begin to attract the best of investments, open up our space for tourism, open the space infrastructural development and of course create a balance in terms of our national security architecture.”
While acknowledging the role of Nigeria in global equation, he said: “Yes, definitely Nigeria is powerful country in Africa and in the world and that is part of what we are going to be talking about, how to be able to strike a balance without also losing the economic value that comes with it.
“There are so many things that are involved and we are lucky that have the Ministries of Trade and Investment, Foreign Affairs, the Nigeria Immigration Service (NIS), PEBEC here and all the stakeholders here and you can be sure that we will do justice to in changing the narrative.
“We would strike the balance when it comes to reciprocity and at the same time be mindful of investment promotion, be mindful of treaties and protocols and be mindful of all other technical issues that may arise.
The Minister, added that Nigeria must aspire to be the best in its visa policy globally, adding: “I don’t want to make it one of the best. To me, I’m interested in Nigeria’s visa policy being the best in the world.
“As you are aware, we are in endless pursuit of excellence and we are not going to rest until we become the best. The Renewed Hope Agenda that President Bola Tinubu, is driving is about business unusual, it is about prioritizing Nigeria and making it the best in the world that is what we are trying to achieve and secondly it is a thing to have a policy and it is another thing to implement it effectively.”
He asked? What has been our implementation framework on visa policy, what role do we think that technology needs to play and how long do we think that somebody needs to stay to get a short stay visa, business visa, tourism visa entertainment visa and business visa?
“How long will take a person to stay and how easy is going to be for them to have access to the application mechanism.
“Why must somebody which in my opinion needs to travel from British Columbia in Canada all the way to Ottawa just because he needs a Nigeria visa, what is the reason why is it today that people go to Qatar, UK and Singapore even more than the way they go to Europe, this is because there is easier access to their visa.”
He said, Nigeria has not been able to achieve what countries in terms of its flexible visa policy like the East do, adding that henceforth this change with effectiveness and it will be done without jeopardizing our national security.
He said: “How well have promoted our tourism, how well have we have been able to open our space for investment”
“People want to invest in Nigeria, but for certain limitations like going through pressure and stress before they have access to these thing and so it is not just about having the policy but implementation is by creating the right framework and having that the right benchmark that will be competitive and will be comparable to the best in the world and that is what we aim to achieve.
“We want to assure you and this is not just a workshop we want to actualize it. Every time in the Ministry that we have made promises we always do our best to fulfil it.
“Henceforth, in Nigeria, we want to welcome investment, 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 less than 2 million people and that is unacceptable for a country of 2 million people.
“It means that we area limiting investment and import of forex and we believe that once we get the visa policy right and get the implementation framework perfectly alright, definitely economic prosperity will come job creation will come, tourism will boom and hotel will sale 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.”
The Minister, underscored the role off digitization, adding: “Perhaps we can even make our visa implementation framework more efficient and even more secured using technology rather than the analogue system that we run at the moment.
Also speaking at the sideline, the CG, NIS, Kemi Nandep, said: “It is not just for Nigerians but even foreigners to have it easier in terms of getting visa to come into the country and luckily we have that we have all the necessary stakeholders here. We Trade, Foreign Affairs Ministries, PEBEC and other consultants as well. I think it will be a very interesting working.”