June 12: How Visa on Arrival Policy Has Helped Us Since Implementation – Buhari

President Muhammadu Buhari of Nigeria has stated on Friday (today) in his democracy day speech that the visa on arrival policy initiated in December 2019 has tremendously helped Nigeria to move upward by 25 places on the World Bank’s Ease of Doing Business ranking.

Naija News recalls that the Visa on Arrival Policy was initiated to resolve conflicts among African countries and open up the country to more investments.

Emphasizing on the policy six months ago at the Aswan Forum for Sustainable Peace and Development in Africa, held in Egypt, President Buhari noted that conflicts can only demoralize African nations and as well hinders progress in the society.

He said, “As Africans, it is important to focus on the issues of conflict prevention and resolution. Conflicts have devastating effects on our societies and they militate against our progress. In this regard, the need to silence the guns cannot be overemphasized.”

Speaking on the effect of the visa on arrival policy in the June 12 speech delivered a few moments ago by the president, he stated that “Nigeria has risen by 25 places on the World Bank’s Ease of Doing Business ranking from 146th to 131st and is now rated as one of the top ten reforming countries.”.

“This development is due to the Visa on Arrival policy, consistent promotion of initiatives that expand facilities available to Micro Small and Medium Scale Enterprises, robust electronic registration and payment system seamless processing of business registration and reduction of cost of registering business by 50%. We are confident that on-going efforts would result in further improvement of this rating.”

Meanwhile, Nigerian Vice President, Yemi Osinbajo has said that at least 39.4 million Nigerians are likely to lose their jobs by the end of the year 2020 if the government “fails to take prompt preemptive measures” in curbing the spread of Coronavirus in the nation.