President Buhari Launches New Visa Policy

President Muhammadu Buhari has officially launched the Nigerian Visa Policy (NVP) 2020 which guarantees visa on arrival for African Union nationals.

Presenting the new Nigeria Visa Policy (NVP) at the State House in Abuja, on Tuesday, President Buhari said the review of the visa policy is intended to attract innovation, specialized skills and knowledge from abroad to complement local ones.

The Minister of Interior, Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola who also spoke at the launching and presentation stated that its operation is cardinal to the Ease of Doing Business in Nigeria.

“The new visa regime is expected to boost economic activities in the areas of tourism, aviation, entertainment, commerce and other areas where Nigeria has a comparative advantage over other African countries. It also presents Nigeria with the opportunity to apply the principle of reciprocity with her visa policy in the nation’s bilateral and multilateral relations.

“The NVP 2020 introduces special visas for Nigerians in the diaspora who either by birth, marriage or nationalization have assumed dual citizenship. Such a category of Nigerians will now be able to make use of the passports of their adopted countries to visit Nigeria without the need for a short-stay visa.”

Aregbesola assured that the NIS would adhere to the published conditions of issuance of visas in a professional, timely and transparent manner.

“NIS would invest heavily in the training of the officers and men that will be charged with the responsibility of processing visas in all our visa issuing centers and passport control at our points of entry.

“NIS would also work with all stakeholders within and outside Nigeria to ensure that the policy is not abused and the security of Nigeria and indeed other countries is not compromised.

“The implementation of the NVP 2020 will not compromise national security as adequate control measures have been provided both before and after entry into Nigeria,” the Minister assured.

Some of the features of NVP 2020 include, Visa On Arrival for African Union nationals, increase in the classes of visas from 6 to 75, creation of visa codes for all classes of visa and introduction of e-visas.

Here are the pictures of the launching which held at the State House in Abuja:

Headlines