The Federal Government has announced plans to cancel its visa-on-arrival policy and introduce landing and exit cards, which prospective visitors will pre-fill before coming to Nigeria.
The Minister of Interior, Dr Olubunmi Tunji-Ojo, announced this during the closing ceremony of a capacity building training organised for personnel of the Nigeria Immigration Service (NIS) in Abuja on Friday, February 21, 2025.
The federal government had in 2020 unveiled the visa-on-arrival policy, a class of short-stay visa issued at the point of entry.
However, Tunji-Ojo had on assumption of office in 2023 said the visa-on-arrival policy would be based on reciprocity.
This visa is often given to frequently travelled high networth investors and intending visitors who may not be able to obtain visas in their countries of residence due to the absence of Nigerian missions or embassies in those countries
The minister stated that the API/PNR was not optional, recalling that the system was not in place when he was made minister.
According to him, what the API, PNR gives is objectivity in decision making, objective profiling, not subjective profiling.
He added that what existed previously was subjective.
Tunji-Ojo said: “Today (Friday), we have heard and we have sorted the API across all of our five international airports.
“We think that what we need to do is for us to be able to expand the capability of this in an adaptive manner to allow other border posts.
“The visa system that is one of the core, because I always tell people the visa is not just an approval of entry, it is a migration management device.
“It is a security device to manage migration into your country. So the way it is at the moment is very subjective.
“We are not really too objective and that is why we are automating the whole process end-to-end.
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“And the e-visa solution, we are working hard to be able to meet the March 1st or peradventure if we are unable, April 1st, we will hit it live.”
Tunji-Ojo noted that the system would be automated, adding that people would apply online and the service would do what it needed to do.
The minister said: “That solution will be integrated with the Interpol System, the criminal records system, so that we can be able to take decisions.
“We do not want foreign attachés approving and issuing visas. It is not going to be that way anymore, we want to be able to screen people more.
“Nigeria cannot be a destination for wanted criminals in the world. Nigeria is not a safe haven for any criminal and it will never be.
“Another thing we are trying to do even for our expatriates is to see how we can integrate all these our immigration solutions.
“What we are doing is to harmonise all these solutions in our data centre, harmonise the database and be able to let the solutions speak to one another rather than having solutions in silos.
“We want to have integrated solutions. So what we are looking at is that, for any decision that borders on immigration into Nigeria.
“It will be impossible for approvals to be given without the clearance of interpol, criminal records system and all background checking agencies in real time.
“Security is not a sector where you can afford to be 99.9 per cent correct. You just have to be 100 per cent. We believe that it is better for us to take decisions based on objectivity rather than subjectivity.
“And of course, that will lead to the cancellation of the visa-on-arrival process because the visa-on-arrival we understand is not a system that works, because I don’t expect you to just come into my country without me knowing that you are coming into my country.
“It is never done anywhere and of course, we are also introducing what we call the landing and exit card.
“We do it now, but it is manual. We are not going to be doing that anymore. This is 2025. This is not 1825. So technology must take its place.”
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