The Comptroller
General of the Nigerian Immigration Service, Muhammad Babandede, MFR, has
revealed plans to digitalise tourist visa before the end of the year.
He assured that the
digitalisation of tourist visa, which is ongoing, would further improve tourism
and the ease of doing business in Nigeria.
Babandede made the
disclosure when the Director-General of the Nigerian Tourism Development
Corporation (NTDC), Folorunsho Coker and his team paid him a courtesy visit in
his office.
He explained that the
tourist visa would be web-based, saying: “Everything will be digitalised with
no physical contact with anybody. Once you apply online, upload your
application, submit, pay, and get approval, you start coming and within 24 to
48 hours, you get your tourist’s visa”
The Immigration boss
observed that Nigeria is quite liberal with tourists’ visa for people coming to
the country for religious tourism. “We give them visa-on-arrival for certain
churches because we know their spending will boost our economy”, he said.
However, Babandede
pointed out that there are challenges in making tourists visa liberal because
tourism has become the weakest link for entry into Nigeria but tourism visa
will be possible without compromising national security.
He then promised to
look into seeping the access for VOA to tourists once certain parameters where
in place.
The Immigration boss,
however, explained that the Migration Information Data Analysis System (MIDAS)
launched by the Minister of Interior, Rauf Aregbesola will assist with
statistics of tourists visiting Nigeria and more online
For NTDC boss, the
ease of tourists coming into Nigeria and doing business in the country lies
heavily on the successes of the visa-on-arrival for tourists.
