A financial analyst, Mr Bayo Adeleke, said on Monday that the Federal Government’s plan to issue visas to Africans on arrival into the country would improve the country’s ranking on ease of doing business.
Adeleke, who is the Chief Executive Officer of an investment firm, Lancelot Ventures, said this in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Lagos.
He said that the federal government’s decision to begin the visa on arrival policy would improve the conditions of doing business.
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Adeleke said, “The anticipated policy will address the challenges of travel papers, and enable the country to be a business-friendly one.
“The proposal will reposition the country’s economy as an investment hub in the continent.”
He said that the federal government’s planned visa on arrival policy for Africans was germane because the continent was becoming a community.
Adeleke said that the visa on arrival policy would strengthen the Africa Continental Free Trade Agreement (AfCFTA).
“Since the AfCFTA will become operational from next year, proposing the visa on arrival is just complementary.
“The government actions could enable the country’s economy to be reckoned with in the future,“ he said.
NAN reports that all Africans travelling to Nigeria will soon be able to get their visas at the point of entry.
Speaking at the Aswan Forum in Egypt, President Muhammadu Buhari said that as from January 2020, fellow Africans would be issued with visas upon their arrival in Nigeria.
The Comptroller General, Nigeria Immigration Service (NIS), Muhammed Babandede, who later shed more light on this in a statement, said the visa on arrival for holders of passports of African countries from January 2020 was to accelerate African integration.
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Babandede, in a statement by Mr Sunday James, the service Public Relations Officer, said the decision would remove barriers hindering free movement of people within the continent.
“Nigeria’s strategic decision is taken to bring down barriers that have hindered free movement of our people within the continent by introducing the visa at the point of entry into Nigeria with effect from January 2020,” he said.
Babandede assured Nigerians of the service’s commitment to high professionalism in delivering its services without compromising National Security. (NAN)