The federal government yesterday announced plans to cancel the visa-on-arrival policy.
The Minister of Interior, Olubunmi Tunji-Ojo, made the announcement during the closing ceremony of a weeklong capacity-building training for personnel of the Nigeria Immigration Service (NIS), reports Channels TV.
The capacity building training is one of the measures being adopted by the NIS to document everyone visiting the country.
Former President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration introduced the visa-on-arrival policy in 2020 as a short-stay visa issued at the point of entry.
According to Tunji-Ojo, the federal government would introduce landing and exit cards, which prospective visitors will pre-fill before coming into the country in place of the visa-on-arrival policy
He emphasised the need to harmonise the immigration data centre and have integrated solutions for decisions that have to do with migration into Nigeria.
He explained that such harmonisation would make it impossible for approvals to be given without the clearance of Interpol, the criminal records system, and all background-checking agencies in real-time.
“Security is not a sector where you can afford to be 99.9 percent correct. You just have to be 100 percent. We believe that it is better for us to take decisions based on objectivity rather than subjectivity,” Tunji-Ojo said.
“And of course, that will lead to the cancellation of the visa-on-arrival process because the visa-on-arrival we understand is not a system that works, because I don’t expect you to just come into my country without me knowing that you are coming into my country.
“No, it is never done anywhere, and of course, we are also introducing what we call the landing and exit card.
“We do it now, but it is manual. We are not going to be doing that anymore. This is 2025. This is not 1825. So, technology must take its place.”
