The Federal Government has concluded plans to ease the difficulty of obtaining Nigerian visa for travellers willing to come to the country, adding that applicants would now get their visa in 48 hours.
The disclosure was made by the Minister of Information, Tourism and Culture, Alhaji Lai Muhammed, yesterday who was represented by the Acting Director-General of Nigerian Tourism Development Corporation (NTDC), Dr. Paul Adalikwu at the 41st session of the Annual General Meeting (AGM) of the National Association of Nigeria Travel Agencies (NANTA) in Lagos. This is coming as the minister disclosed plans to launch the Tourism Development Fund (TDF).
The minister said the Nigerian Immigration Service (NIS) has reviewed the requirements for Nigerian visas to make them more customer-friendly. To make entry smoother, the NIS would harmonise airport immigration forms to reduce the stress of paperwork for visitors. Visas on arrival will also be made available to high net-worth investors coming for urgent business and to visitors from countries without Nigerian consulates. Former Director-General of Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA), Dr. Olusegun Demuren, lamented that people are finding it very difficult to secure Nigerian visa. His words: “The visa charges are high.
A lot of Nigerians have children studying abroad and they want to come home. Visa on arrival is what government should look into. We need to remove all barriers that will make travel easier.” Demuren said with tourism, there is nothing like recession and charged the travel agents to look inward and focus attention on the many attractions of the country that need to be explored by the people.
Meanwhile, former President Olusegun Obasanjo has tasked travel operators in Nigeria on developing and promoting domestic tourism, maintaining that for a country as blessed as Nigeria, the nationals and government have no reason to look elsewhere for their economic growth. Speaking as special guest of honour at NANTA’s AGM with theme, ‘Tourism in a recessed economy,’ the former president said tourism is a catalyst for growing the economy and could take the country out of its present woes. “What we must do is to begin to encourage Nigerians to travel within the country because we will generate heavy revenue from domestic tourism,” he said.
He commended NANTA for its achievements over the years, describing it as the only resounding and vocal travel body in the country. He charged them to pay more attention to domestic tourism, lamenting that a lot of Nigerians don’t travel within Nigeria. Earlier in his welcome address, NANTA president, Bankole Bernard, charged his members to remain steadfast and resolute in their business, stressing that NANTA was set to occupy the country’s tourism space.
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