The Nigerian Immigration Service (NIS) has issued out 2,194 Visas on Arrival during the month of July 2019 at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, (MMIA).
Businessday’s checks show that this figure represents an increase of over 30 percent visas on arrival the service issues out on the average every month.
The visa on arrival which is targeted at business people and investors has seen applicants apply online and get responses in less than 48 hours.
A source close to the service told Buisnessday that the service was able to record this huge milestone as a result of the service’s dedication to training and retraining of its staff, robust digital facilities and it low tolerance for corruption.
“Abdullahi Musta Usman, the new Comptroller of Immigration, Nigeria Immigration Service, MMIA has a goal to consistently train and retrain its staff which he has actualized by establishing a training room at the e-arrival point at the airport, which accommodates about 20 people at a time. The Comptroller insists that immigration officers be trained and retrained consistently because their
job is dynamic.
“We have a SAVICOM centre at the Lagos airport where passengers who have issues come to complain and we help them resolve the issues. Anti-corruption desk has also been inaugurated at the airport in a bid to ensure service delivery and ease of doing business,” the source said.
The source hinted that visa on arrival has become very flexible as applicants can sit down in the comfort of their homes and apply and approval will be sent within a time-frame of 48 hours, adding that there is no third party interference in the process.
On how the service hope to tackle overstay of visitors, the source said the service do not have control over the stay of visitors in Nigeria but the service issues visitors business visas that last for 30 days and if visitors want to extend their stay over business reasons, they can go to the nearest immigration office and apply for extension.
The source also assured that mechanisms have been put in place to avoid human trafficking at the airport and by next year, technology will be upgraded at the Lagos airport to ease travel experience.
