By Adedapo Adesanya
The federal government has approved that all other Africans won’t require visas from January 2020 to come into Nigeria as the visas would be issued on arrival.
President Muhammadu Buhari announced this in Egypt at the ongoing Aswan Forum, according to Ambassador Ahmed Awad, Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation of the Federal Republic of Somalia.
This is a major change to the country’s current visa policy as it implies that Nigeria will begin issuing visas on arrival for all African nationals.
This disclosure came after an earlier announcement from the Comptroller General of the Nigeria Immigration Service (NIS), Muhammadu Babandede while speaking at the inauguration of the Africa-Frontex Intelligence Community (AFIC) on Wednesday in Abuja.
He said, “The announcement would be made soon by the President of the Federation.
“However, we cannot succeed without a tool like AFIC. This tool is keen if we want to implement an effective free movement across our border.
“The tool is actually coming at the right time. AFIC would help African countries especially Nigeria that want to open its border for all Africans to enter at will. And now that tool is available, it would make the work easier for us.”
Mr Babandede added that it was important to acknowledge the different forces in Nigeria curbing crime and insecurity, saying, “But our duty is unique and you may not see it as it is in Chad, Benin or Cameroon.”
“The essence is that we are very keen and we have been working with the European Union for a long time. Frontex is in charge of border before they got another responsibility called coast guard which is also very keen to Africa especially checking member state of ECOWAS,” he added.
