Nigeria unveils centralised visa approval centre

Abdullateef Fowewe

The Federal Government of Nigeria has introduced a Visa approval Centre for all applicants.

This was confirmed on Tuesday by the Minister of Interior, Dr Olubunmi Tunji-Ojo during an interaction on X (formallly Twitter) Spaces, anchored by Dr Segun Awosanya.

Tunji-Ojo noted that the measure was aimed at eliminating corrupt practices, ensuring uniformity, and enhancing national security.

He thereby disclosed that Visa application procedures would go online by March 1 this year, adding that the centralised visa approval centre is a game changer as part of reforms to attract investments into the country.

He said, “The visa approval centre is also an achievement for this administration because we also now have a centralised visa approval centre.

“This will stem corruption, ensure national security, and merge the visa regime to ensure uniformity. Before March 1st, all visa application systems will be online to ensure proper vetting.”

The Minister also reflected on the existence of a harmonised data centre at the Bola Ahmed Tinubu Technology Innovation Complex domiciled at the headquarters of the Nigeria Immigration Service in Abuja.

“We were able to build one of the biggest data centres in the history of Nigeria, which is the 8.3-petabyte centre. Before then, we had an issue, because we inherited a Nigeria Immigration Service that had no data centre, where the data of Nigerians were obviously being saved in private capacities with various contractors, and that was a gross contravention of the Data Protection Act.

“Nigeria cannot proliferate the issuance of its security document because it is a gross violation of due process and so, we decided to find a lasting solution to that, and we started by promising Nigerians a 1.4-petabyte data centre, but we ended up delivering an 8.3-petabyte data centre – one of the largest in the world,” Tunji-Ojo