Monday June 30, 2025
The Federal Government on Monday, June 30, said its electronic visa regime which took off on May 1 has been largely successful, disclosing how it processed over 14, 000 applications within the first six weeks of going live, Vanguard reported.
Minister of Interior, Dr Olubunmi Tunji-Ojo announced this at a stakeholders sensitization workshop on major immigration innovations held at the headquarters of the Nigeria Immigration Service NIS in Abuja.
According to him, the electronic Combined Expatriate Residence Permit and Aliens Card e-CERPAC and the electronic Temporary Work Permit TWP will also go live in the next one week.
“I can tell you within the first six weeks of the e-visa, we were able to process over 14,000 visa applications. Within six weeks. So, that by any standard in the world, is a pass mark. It is a huge one and, of course, those little hitches, I tell you, within the next one to two weeks, will be history. We will correct them.
“We are already working. Even yesterday in my house, the CGIS was there. Technological partners were in my house. The DCG visa was in my house. All of us in my house. We worked for hours yesterday, Sunday, even in my conference room at home. We were working because we understand when you are in the process of innovation, there is no room, there is no opportunity for you to close your eyes. You must make sure it works. We are ready for the challenge”.
He said the Federal Government decided to come up with the e-visa system knowing that it is not just a migration management document but also an enhancer of economic growth.
“To me, when somebody needs a visa to Nigeria, and all he is looking for is who knows the minister, who knows the CG Immigration ,who knows the Permanent Secretary, that is not how to grow a country. That is the truth.
“You must make it easy while not compromising national security. There must be that strategy. So, the e-visa, I want to assure you, is here, and by the grace of God, is here to stay”, he stated.
