Ada Nkong
Starting from May 1 Nigeria will commence her E-Visa system.
Minister of aviation and aerospace development Mr Festus Keyamo and his Counterpart from the Ministry of interior Olubunmi Tunji-Ojo disclosed this afternoon at an inter-ministerial meeting in Abuja.
According to Keyamo, embarkation cards which were physical and filled at the airport will now be replaced by automated landing and exit cards to be filled online by passengers.
Keyamo said: “What we are doing here today is a further testament to the determination of this government to foster cooperation between key ministries that have mandates that overlap”.
According to him, from May 2025 automated landing and exit cards,
E Visas which are aimed at improving border security can be accessed online for free.
He added that it will make it easier for people to come in while improving security due to better background check for people coming and remove bottle necks.
The ministry of aviation and aerospace development will
work together with the interior ministry to implement usage. He tasked the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority and Nigeria Immigration Service to set up a mini team within 1 week and come up with protocol.
On his part, Minister of interior Olubunmi Tunji-Ojo said the major difference is that digitizing embarkation card involves automating and doing away with paper work. He said passengers will fill an entry card online when coming into the country and when leaving will fill same for checks to get their boarding passes.
“There is a centralised visa approval centre already at the immigration headquarters. Officers have been trained, well equipped and solution-integrated to all criminal record systems in the world, the major ones in the world, as well as Interpol. And of course, there will be better background checks in terms of people coming into Nigeria”.
Tunji-Ojo said this inter-ministerial collaboration is typical of President Tinubu’s administration and aimed at getting the system to work properly. According to him, Ghana,Togo and many other African countries already use the E-Visa.
He further disclosed that some passengers on the watchlist of the Interpol through the cooperation between his ministry and ministry of aviation have been apprehended and handed over to the authorities.
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