The Nigerian Immigrations Service (NIS) at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, (MMIA) has issued about 13,000 Visas on Arrival since last February, toping it with 2,194 in the month of July 2019.
The agency has also improved the process and has made it web-based to ensure transparency and redefined the applicants who are qualified to benefit from the visa on arrival, emphasizing that it must be those who have concrete plans to do business in Nigeria.
Official from NIS, MMIA told THISDAY that the July figure of Visa on Arriva represented an increase of over 30 percent compared to similar figures the same period last year and noted that there has been increase in requests in 2019 as more foreigners are poised to invest in Nigeria.
The official reiterated that the visa is targeted at business people and investors and that Immigration has upgraded the process that applicants get responses in less than 48 hours from the agency.
He explained that the service was able to record this huge milestone as a result of the service’s dedication to training and retraining of its staff, robust digital facilities and low tolerance for corruption.
“Abdullahi Musta Usman, the new Comptroller of Immigration, Nigeria Immigration Service, MMIA has a goal to consistently train and retrain its staff which he has actualized by establishing a training room at the e-arrival point at the airport, which accommodates about 20 people at a time. The Comptroller insists that immigration officers be trained and retrained consistently because their job is dynamic.
“We have a SAVICOM centre at the Lagos airport where passengers who have issues come to complain and we help them resolve the issues. Anti-corruption desk has also been inaugurated at the airport in a bid to ensure service delivery and ease of doing business,” the official said.
He also explained that visa on arrival has become very flexible as applicants can sit down in the comfort of their homes and apply and approval would be sent within a timeframe of 48 hours, adding that there is no third party interference in the process.
On how the service hope to tackle overstay of visitors, the official said the service do not have control over the stay of visitors in Nigeria but the service issues visitors business visas that last for 30 days and if visitors want to extend their stay over business reasons, they can go to the nearest Immigration office and apply for extension.
He also assured that mechanisms have been put in place to avoid human trafficking at the airport and by next year, technology would be upgraded at the Lagos airport to ease travel experience.
NIS also explained that the applicants that do not get response from the agency within the stipulated time are those who don’t abide by the instructions given on the Visa on Arrival website and upload the necessary documentation as requested by the law.
“Some applicants don’t supply the needed requirements and that is why they don’t get response from us,” the official also said.
