Immigration Introduces Special Visa Class to Promote FDI

Chinedu Eze

The Nigeria Immigration Service (NIS) has concluded plan to introduce a special visa on arrival, known as Business Trust Visas for foreigners who are coming into the country for the purpose of investment.

Currently, the Murtala Muhammed International Airport (MMIA), Lagos Command of NIS revealed that it issued 53,644 Visa on Arrival (VoA) to foreigners in 2022, and intends to double this number in the near future but with attention to foreign investors who are prepared to invest in Nigeria.

This was disclosed yesterday by the new acting Comptroller-General, NIS, Mrs. Carol Adepoju, at her maiden visit to the Command at MMIA, Lagos.

She said the Business Trust Visa would eliminate fear of fraud among foreigners coming into the country.

She lamented that numerous foreign investors were willing to come into the country for the purpose of investment, but were sceptical about the sincerity of their supposed business partners in the country.

According to her, the Business Trust Visa would eliminate the trust deficit as the service in collaboration with the Department of Security Service (DSS) and other security agencies would carry out in-depth background checks on their business partners in Nigeria.

She said: “As a result of the prevalence of international crimes, especially the ones that are done online where you have a lot of fictitious business offers, there are so many investors with lots of funds that want to invest in Nigeria because of Nigeria’s population, sophistication and climate. All these are attractive to investors, but some of them are afraid.

“They do not know the calibre of people they are dealing with. You will need partners sometimes here. So, when we have that Trust Visa, we would partner with security agencies like DSS and other agencies that are entrusted with security in the country.

” When you give us the contact of whosoever you want to partner with in Nigeria, we will do a background check on such a person and we will let you know if he is a trustworthy person or not.

“The moment we are able to tell you who he is, we will guarantee you that your investment with him would be a success. It is a way of attracting investors into the country. 

“We will remove the doubt and when there are people of shady characters, too, we will let them know.”

Adepoju emphasised that the enhanced VoA facility at the airport from one to three would further ensure seamless entrance of foreigners into Nigeria.

She explained that the VoA would also facilitate the ease-of-doing business for Nigeria, adding that it would further reduce waiting time for foreigners.

She pointed out that this was in line with the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) recommendation and standards.

“Before now, we had only one production line of visas, but by the grace of God, through the initiative of the Comptroller at the MMIA Command, they have added two additional lines. 

“By doing so, it is facilitating ease-of-doing business and making them more effective and efficient. The place is also accessible to disabled people and the old ones,” she said.

In her remarks, the Comptroller, MMIA Command, Mrs. Adeola Adesokan, told journalists that the Command recorded enhanced performance in the past year and all aspects of the command had been digitalised.