FG launches new visa policy to boost trade, tourism

The Federal Government has launched the New Visa Policy (NVP) 2020 to make Nigerian visa acces­sible to foreign nationals in the hope of improving the ease of doing busi­ness and boosting foreign international economic acdirect investment and other tivities. ­

The NVP 2020 allows trav­ellersto visit Nigeria without visas and only commence the process of obtaining visa upon arrival into the country.

The Nigeria Immigration Service Public Relations Of­ficer, Sunday James, who disclosed this in a statement,said: “The objective of the re­forms that have birthed NVP 2020 is to strengthen Nigeria’s position as a key economy in Africa by attracting more For­eign Direct Investment (FDI) into the country.

“This would in turn pro­vide jobs for the people and lift Nigeria’s teeming popu­lation out of poverty inline with the vision of President Muhammadu Buhari to take 100 million Nigerians out of poverty in the next 10 years.

“NVP 2020 is also designed tosupport the attainment of the Economic Recovery and Growth Plan (2017 -2020)and is a pathway to achieving the Security, Economy and Trans­parency (SET)agenda of the present administration.”

President Muhammadu Buhari,while unveiling the policy on Tuesday in Abuja, said it would attract more businesses and investment opportunities for the country, especially now that Nigeria was a signatory to the Afri­can Continental Free Trade Agreement.

He also noted that it was initiated to facilitate innova­tion, specialised skills, and knowledge from abroad to complement local capacity.

At the official public pre­sentation of the NVP 2020, the president said: “The implementation of the Ni­geria Visa Policy 2020 would support the attainment of a globally competitive economy for Nigeria by building on the efforts of the Presidential En­abling Business Environment Council.”

Buhari noted that the pol­icy would 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 minimise bottlenecks which impede innovation and market based solutions for building an inclusive economy.

“The Nigeria Visa Policy 2020 is intended to attract innovation, specialised skills and knowledge from abroad to complement locally avail­able ones,’’ he added.

He also noted that the NVP 2020 provides an avenue to achieve African integration by introducing visa on arriv­al for short visits to Nigeria for citizens of African Union countries.

“I therefore recommend thedocument to the interna­tional community, foreign and local business entities.We are open for business,” he said.

Minister of Interior, Og­beni Rauf Aregbesola, said the visa policy took into con­sideration specific needs of foreigners who would want to visit the country, without compromising thesecurity of the country.

According to the minister, 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 Immigrations 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 would be controlled by the automated system, while allaying fears of possible in­filtration of the economy by criminals and terrorists.